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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md | 78 |
1 files changed, 74 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md b/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md index 59ce5cac7..9f7d5057b 100644 --- a/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md +++ b/doc/manual/src/contributing/hacking.md @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ $ nix develop ``` To get a shell with a different compilation environment (e.g. stdenv, -gccStdenv, clangStdenv, clang11Stdenv): +gccStdenv, clangStdenv, clang11Stdenv, ccacheStdenv): ```console $ nix-shell -A devShells.x86_64-linux.clang11StdenvPackages @@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ or if you have a flake-enabled nix: $ nix develop .#clang11StdenvPackages ``` +Note: you can use `ccacheStdenv` to drastically improve rebuild +time. By default, ccache keeps artifacts in `~/.cache/ccache/`. + To build Nix itself in this shell: ```console @@ -83,9 +86,7 @@ by: $ nix develop ``` -## Testing - -Nix comes with three different flavors of tests: unit, functional and integration. +## Running tests ### Unit-tests @@ -108,3 +109,72 @@ These tests include everything that needs to interact with external services or Because these tests are expensive and require more than what the standard github-actions setup provides, they only run on the master branch (on <https://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nix/master>). You can run them manually with `nix build .#hydraJobs.tests.{testName}` or `nix-build -A hydraJobs.tests.{testName}` + +### Installer tests + +After a one-time setup, the Nix repository's GitHub Actions continuous integration (CI) workflow can test the installer each time you push to a branch. + +Creating a Cachix cache for your installer tests and adding its authorization token to GitHub enables [two installer-specific jobs in the CI workflow](https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/88a45d6149c0e304f6eb2efcc2d7a4d0d569f8af/.github/workflows/ci.yml#L50-L91): + +- The `installer` job generates installers for the platforms below and uploads them to your Cachix cache: + - `x86_64-linux` + - `armv6l-linux` + - `armv7l-linux` + - `x86_64-darwin` + +- The `installer_test` job (which runs on `ubuntu-latest` and `macos-latest`) will try to install Nix with the cached installer and run a trivial Nix command. + +#### One-time setup + +1. Have a GitHub account with a fork of the [Nix repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix). +2. At cachix.org: + - Create or log in to an account. + - Create a Cachix cache using the format `<github-username>-nix-install-tests`. + - Navigate to the new cache > Settings > Auth Tokens. + - Generate a new Cachix auth token and copy the generated value. +3. At github.com: + - Navigate to your Nix fork > Settings > Secrets > Actions > New repository secret. + - Name the secret `CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN`. + - Paste the copied value of the Cachix cache auth token. + +#### Using the CI-generated installer for manual testing + +After the CI run completes, you can check the output to extract the installer URL: +1. Click into the detailed view of the CI run. +2. Click into any `installer_test` run (the URL you're here to extract will be the same in all of them). +3. Click into the `Run cachix/install-nix-action@v...` step and click the detail triangle next to the first log line (it will also be `Run cachix/install-nix-action@v...`) +4. Copy the value of `install_url` +5. To generate an install command, plug this `install_url` and your GitHub username into this template: + + ```console + sh <(curl -L <install_url>) --tarball-url-prefix https://<github-username>-nix-install-tests.cachix.org/serve + ``` + +<!-- #### Manually generating test installers + +There's obviously a manual way to do this, and it's still the only way for +platforms that lack GA runners. + +I did do this back in Fall 2020 (before the GA approach encouraged here). I'll +sketch what I recall in case it encourages someone to fill in detail, but: I +didn't know what I was doing at the time and had to fumble/ask around a lot-- +so I don't want to uphold any of it as "right". It may have been dumb or +the _hard_ way from the getgo. Fundamentals may have changed since. + +Here's the build command I used to do this on and for x86_64-darwin: +nix build --out-link /tmp/foo ".#checks.x86_64-darwin.binaryTarball" + +I used the stable out-link to make it easier to script the next steps: +link=$(readlink /tmp/foo) +cp $link/*-darwin.tar.xz ~/somewheres + +I've lost the last steps and am just going from memory: + +From here, I think I had to extract and modify the `install` script to point +it at this tarball (which I scped to my own site, but it might make more sense +to just share them locally). I extracted this script once and then just +search/replaced in it for each new build. + +The installer now supports a `--tarball-url-prefix` flag which _may_ have +solved this need? +--> |