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-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md64
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diff --git a/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md b/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md
index f02425b13..a164b3997 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/language/advanced-attributes.md
@@ -255,3 +255,67 @@ Derivations can declare some infrequently used optional attributes.
> substituted. Thus it is usually a good idea to align `system` with
> `builtins.currentSystem` when setting `allowSubstitutes` to
> `false`. For most trivial derivations this should be the case.
+
+ - [`__structuredAttrs`]{#adv-attr-structuredAttrs}\
+ If the special attribute `__structuredAttrs` is set to `true`, the other derivation
+ attributes are serialised in JSON format and made available to the
+ builder via the file `.attrs.json` in the builder’s temporary
+ directory. This obviates the need for `passAsFile` since JSON files
+ have no size restrictions, unlike process environments.
+
+ It also makes it possible to tweak derivation settings in a structured way; see
+ [`outputChecks`](#adv-attr-outputChecks) for example.
+
+ As a convenience to Bash builders,
+ Nix writes a script named `.attrs.sh` to the builder’s directory
+ that initialises shell variables corresponding to all attributes
+ that are representable in Bash. This includes non-nested
+ (associative) arrays. For example, the attribute `hardening.format = true`
+ ends up as the Bash associative array element `${hardening[format]}`.
+
+ - [`outputChecks`]{#adv-attr-outputChecks}\
+ When using [structured attributes](#adv-attr-structuredAttrs), the `outputChecks`
+ attribute allows defining checks per-output.
+
+ In addition to
+ [`allowedReferences`](#adv-attr-allowedReferences), [`allowedRequisites`](#adv-attr-allowedRequisites),
+ [`disallowedReferences`](#adv-attr-disallowedReferences) and [`disallowedRequisites`](#adv-attr-disallowedRequisites),
+ the following attributes are available:
+
+ - `maxSize` defines the maximum size of the output path.
+ - `maxClosureSize` defines the maximum size of the output's closure.
+ - `ignoreSelfRefs` controls whether self-references should be considered when
+ checking for allowed references/requisites.
+
+ ```nix
+ __structuredAttrs = true;
+
+ outputChecks.out = {
+ # The closure of 'out' must not be larger than 256 MiB.
+ maxClosureSize = 256 * 1024 * 1024;
+
+ # It must not refer to the C compiler or to the 'dev' output.
+ disallowedRequisites = [ stdenv.cc "dev" ];
+ };
+
+ outputChecks.dev = {
+ # The 'dev' output must not be larger than 128 KiB.
+ maxSize = 128 * 1024;
+ };
+ ```
+
+ - [`unsafeDiscardReferences`]{#adv-attr-unsafeDiscardReferences}\
+ When using [structured attributes](#adv-attr-structuredAttrs), the **experimental**
+ attribute `unsafeDiscardReferences` is a per-output boolean which, if set to `true`,
+ disables scanning the build output for runtime dependencies altogether.
+
+ ```nix
+ __structuredAttrs = true;
+ unsafeDiscardReferences.out = true;
+ ```
+
+ This is useful, for example, when generating self-contained filesystem images with
+ their own embedded Nix store: hashes found inside such an image refer
+ to the embedded store and not to the host's Nix store.
+
+ This is only allowed if the `discard-references` experimental feature is enabled.