26 files changed, 823 insertions, 882 deletions

diff --git a/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc b/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
index 06b472d8b..8980bc09d 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/attr-path.cc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ static Strings parseAttrPath(const string & s)
             ++i;
             while (1) {
                 if (i == s.end())
-                    throw Error(format("missing closing quote in selection path '%1%'") % s);
+                    throw Error("missing closing quote in selection path '%1%'", s);
                 if (*i == '"') break;
                 cur.push_back(*i++);
             }
@@ -32,15 +32,13 @@ static Strings parseAttrPath(const string & s)
 }
 
 
-Value * findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const string & attrPath,
+std::pair<Value *, Pos> findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const string & attrPath,
     Bindings & autoArgs, Value & vIn)
 {
     Strings tokens = parseAttrPath(attrPath);
 
-    Error attrError =
-        Error(format("attribute selection path '%1%' does not match expression") % attrPath);
-
     Value * v = &vIn;
+    Pos pos = noPos;
 
     for (auto & attr : tokens) {
 
@@ -62,34 +60,36 @@ Value * findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const string & attrPath,
 
             if (v->type != tAttrs)
                 throw TypeError(
-                    format("the expression selected by the selection path '%1%' should be a set but is %2%")
-                    % attrPath % showType(*v));
-
+                    "the expression selected by the selection path '%1%' should be a set but is %2%",
+                    attrPath,
+                    showType(*v));
             if (attr.empty())
-                throw Error(format("empty attribute name in selection path '%1%'") % attrPath);
+                throw Error("empty attribute name in selection path '%1%'", attrPath);
 
             Bindings::iterator a = v->attrs->find(state.symbols.create(attr));
             if (a == v->attrs->end())
-                throw Error(format("attribute '%1%' in selection path '%2%' not found") % attr % attrPath);
+                throw AttrPathNotFound("attribute '%1%' in selection path '%2%' not found", attr, attrPath);
             v = &*a->value;
+            pos = *a->pos;
         }
 
         else if (apType == apIndex) {
 
             if (!v->isList())
                 throw TypeError(
-                    format("the expression selected by the selection path '%1%' should be a list but is %2%")
-                    % attrPath % showType(*v));
-
+                    "the expression selected by the selection path '%1%' should be a list but is %2%",
+                    attrPath,
+                    showType(*v));
             if (attrIndex >= v->listSize())
-                throw Error(format("list index %1% in selection path '%2%' is out of range") % attrIndex % attrPath);
+                throw AttrPathNotFound("list index %1% in selection path '%2%' is out of range", attrIndex, attrPath);
 
             v = v->listElems()[attrIndex];
+            pos = noPos;
         }
 
     }
 
-    return v;
+    return {v, pos};
 }
 
 
@@ -98,9 +98,9 @@ Pos findDerivationFilename(EvalState & state, Value & v, std::string what)
     Value * v2;
     try {
         auto dummyArgs = state.allocBindings(0);
-        v2 = findAlongAttrPath(state, "meta.position", *dummyArgs, v);
+        v2 = findAlongAttrPath(state, "meta.position", *dummyArgs, v).first;
     } catch (Error &) {
-        throw Error("package '%s' has no source location information", what);
+        throw NoPositionInfo("package '%s' has no source location information", what);
     }
 
     // FIXME: is it possible to extract the Pos object instead of doing this
diff --git a/src/libexpr/attr-path.hh b/src/libexpr/attr-path.hh
index 716e5ba27..fce160da7 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/attr-path.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/attr-path.hh
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
-Value * findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const string & attrPath,
+MakeError(AttrPathNotFound, Error);
+MakeError(NoPositionInfo, Error);
+
+std::pair<Value *, Pos> findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const string & attrPath,
     Bindings & autoArgs, Value & vIn);
 
 /* Heuristic to find the filename and lineno or a nix value. */
diff --git a/src/libexpr/attr-set.cc b/src/libexpr/attr-set.cc
index 0785897d2..b1d61a285 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/attr-set.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/attr-set.cc
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ Value * EvalState::allocAttr(Value & vAttrs, const Symbol & name)
 }
 
 
+Value * EvalState::allocAttr(Value & vAttrs, const std::string & name)
+{
+    return allocAttr(vAttrs, symbols.create(name));
+}
+
+
 void Bindings::sort()
 {
     std::sort(begin(), end());
diff --git a/src/libexpr/attr-set.hh b/src/libexpr/attr-set.hh
index 118c7bd5d..c601d09c2 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/attr-set.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/attr-set.hh
@@ -76,7 +76,11 @@ public:
     {
         auto a = get(name);
         if (!a)
-            throw Error("attribute '%s' missing, at %s", name, pos);
+            throw Error({
+                .hint = hintfmt("attribute '%s' missing", name),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
+
         return *a;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/common-eval-args.cc b/src/libexpr/common-eval-args.cc
index 13950ab8d..44baadd53 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/common-eval-args.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/common-eval-args.cc
@@ -1,31 +1,36 @@
 #include "common-eval-args.hh"
 #include "shared.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
+#include "filetransfer.hh"
 #include "util.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
+#include "fetchers.hh"
+#include "store-api.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
 MixEvalArgs::MixEvalArgs()
 {
-    mkFlag()
-        .longName("arg")
-        .description("argument to be passed to Nix functions")
-        .labels({"name", "expr"})
-        .handler([&](std::vector<std::string> ss) { autoArgs[ss[0]] = 'E' + ss[1]; });
+    addFlag({
+        .longName = "arg",
+        .description = "argument to be passed to Nix functions",
+        .labels = {"name", "expr"},
+        .handler = {[&](std::string name, std::string expr) { autoArgs[name] = 'E' + expr; }}
+    });
 
-    mkFlag()
-        .longName("argstr")
-        .description("string-valued argument to be passed to Nix functions")
-        .labels({"name", "string"})
-        .handler([&](std::vector<std::string> ss) { autoArgs[ss[0]] = 'S' + ss[1]; });
+    addFlag({
+        .longName = "argstr",
+        .description = "string-valued argument to be passed to Nix functions",
+        .labels = {"name", "string"},
+        .handler = {[&](std::string name, std::string s) { autoArgs[name] = 'S' + s; }},
+    });
 
-    mkFlag()
-        .shortName('I')
-        .longName("include")
-        .description("add a path to the list of locations used to look up <...> file names")
-        .label("path")
-        .handler([&](std::string s) { searchPath.push_back(s); });
+    addFlag({
+        .longName = "include",
+        .shortName = 'I',
+        .description = "add a path to the list of locations used to look up <...> file names",
+        .labels = {"path"},
+        .handler = {[&](std::string s) { searchPath.push_back(s); }}
+    });
 }
 
 Bindings * MixEvalArgs::getAutoArgs(EvalState & state)
@@ -46,9 +51,9 @@ Bindings * MixEvalArgs::getAutoArgs(EvalState & state)
 Path lookupFileArg(EvalState & state, string s)
 {
     if (isUri(s)) {
-        CachedDownloadRequest request(s);
-        request.unpack = true;
-        return getDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, request).path;
+        return state.store->toRealPath(
+            fetchers::downloadTarball(
+                state.store, resolveUri(s), "source", false).storePath);
     } else if (s.size() > 2 && s.at(0) == '<' && s.at(s.size() - 1) == '>') {
         Path p = s.substr(1, s.size() - 2);
         return state.findFile(p);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval-inline.hh b/src/libexpr/eval-inline.hh
index c27116e3b..3d544c903 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval-inline.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval-inline.hh
@@ -7,20 +7,26 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const Pos & pos, const char * s))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % pos);
+    throw EvalError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const char * s, const Value & v))
 {
-    throw TypeError(format(s) % showType(v));
+    throw TypeError(s, showType(v));
 }
 
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const char * s, const Value & v, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const Value & v))
 {
-    throw TypeError(format(s) % showType(v) % pos);
+    throw TypeError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, showType(v)),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 
@@ -43,7 +49,7 @@ void EvalState::forceValue(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
     else if (v.type == tApp)
         callFunction(*v.app.left, *v.app.right, v, noPos);
     else if (v.type == tBlackhole)
-        throwEvalError("infinite recursion encountered, at %1%", pos);
+        throwEvalError(pos, "infinite recursion encountered");
 }
 
 
@@ -57,9 +63,9 @@ inline void EvalState::forceAttrs(Value & v)
 
 inline void EvalState::forceAttrs(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
 {
-    forceValue(v);
+    forceValue(v, pos);
     if (v.type != tAttrs)
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a set was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a set was expected", v);
 }
 
 
@@ -73,9 +79,9 @@ inline void EvalState::forceList(Value & v)
 
 inline void EvalState::forceList(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
 {
-    forceValue(v);
+    forceValue(v, pos);
     if (!v.isList())
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a list was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a list was expected", v);
 }
 
 /* Note: Various places expect the allocated memory to be zeroed. */
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.cc b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
index dac32b6f5..8e71db2b8 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.cc
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #include "derivations.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
+#include "filetransfer.hh"
 #include "json.hh"
 #include "function-trace.hh"
 
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 #if HAVE_BOEHMGC
 
+#define GC_INCLUDE_NEW
+
 #include <gc/gc.h>
 #include <gc/gc_cpp.h>
 
@@ -56,6 +58,12 @@ static char * dupStringWithLen(const char * s, size_t size)
 }
 
 
+RootValue allocRootValue(Value * v)
+{
+    return std::allocate_shared<Value *>(traceable_allocator<Value *>(), v);
+}
+
+
 static void printValue(std::ostream & str, std::set<const Value *> & active, const Value & v)
 {
     checkInterrupt();
@@ -493,52 +501,74 @@ Value & EvalState::getBuiltin(const string & name)
 
 LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const string & s2))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % s2);
+    throw EvalError(s, s2);
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const string & s2, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const string & s2))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % s2 % pos);
+    throw EvalError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, s2),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const string & s2, const string & s3))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % s2 % s3);
+    throw EvalError(s, s2, s3);
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const string & s2, const string & s3, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const string & s2, const string & s3))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % s2 % s3 % pos);
+    throw EvalError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, s2, s3),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const char * s, const Symbol & sym, const Pos & p1, const Pos & p2))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwEvalError(const Pos & p1, const char * s, const Symbol & sym, const Pos & p2))
 {
-    throw EvalError(format(s) % sym % p1 % p2);
+    // p1 is where the error occurred; p2 is a position mentioned in the message.
+    throw EvalError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, sym, p2),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = p1 }
+    });
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const char * s, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const Pos & pos, const char * s))
 {
-    throw TypeError(format(s) % pos);
+    throw TypeError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const char * s, const string & s1))
 {
-    throw TypeError(format(s) % s1);
+    throw TypeError(s, s1);
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const char * s, const ExprLambda & fun, const Symbol & s2, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwTypeError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const ExprLambda & fun, const Symbol & s2))
 {
-    throw TypeError(format(s) % fun.showNamePos() % s2 % pos);
+    throw TypeError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, fun.showNamePos(), s2),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwAssertionError(const char * s, const string & s1, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwAssertionError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const string & s1))
 {
-    throw AssertionError(format(s) % s1 % pos);
+    throw AssertionError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, s1),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
-LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwUndefinedVarError(const char * s, const string & s1, const Pos & pos))
+LocalNoInlineNoReturn(void throwUndefinedVarError(const Pos & pos, const char * s, const string & s1))
 {
-    throw UndefinedVarError(format(s) % s1 % pos);
+    throw UndefinedVarError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(s, s1),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 LocalNoInline(void addErrorPrefix(Error & e, const char * s, const string & s2))
@@ -606,7 +636,7 @@ inline Value * EvalState::lookupVar(Env * env, const ExprVar & var, bool noEval)
             return j->value;
         }
         if (!env->prevWith)
-            throwUndefinedVarError("undefined variable '%1%' at %2%", var.name, var.pos);
+            throwUndefinedVarError(var.pos, "undefined variable '%1%'", var.name);
         for (size_t l = env->prevWith; l; --l, env = env->up) ;
     }
 }
@@ -804,7 +834,7 @@ inline bool EvalState::evalBool(Env & env, Expr * e, const Pos & pos)
     Value v;
     e->eval(*this, env, v);
     if (v.type != tBool)
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a Boolean was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a Boolean was expected", v);
     return v.boolean;
 }
 
@@ -918,7 +948,7 @@ void ExprAttrs::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
         Symbol nameSym = state.symbols.create(nameVal.string.s);
         Bindings::iterator j = v.attrs->find(nameSym);
         if (j != v.attrs->end())
-            throwEvalError("dynamic attribute '%1%' at %2% already defined at %3%", nameSym, i.pos, *j->pos);
+            throwEvalError(i.pos, "dynamic attribute '%1%' already defined at %2%", nameSym, *j->pos);
 
         i.valueExpr->setName(nameSym);
         /* Keep sorted order so find can catch duplicates */
@@ -1006,7 +1036,7 @@ void ExprSelect::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
             } else {
                 state.forceAttrs(*vAttrs, pos);
                 if ((j = vAttrs->attrs->find(name)) == vAttrs->attrs->end())
-                    throwEvalError("attribute '%1%' missing, at %2%", name, pos);
+                    throwEvalError(pos, "attribute '%1%' missing", name);
             }
             vAttrs = j->value;
             pos2 = j->pos;
@@ -1132,7 +1162,7 @@ void EvalState::callFunction(Value & fun, Value & arg, Value & v, const Pos & po
     }
 
     if (fun.type != tLambda)
-        throwTypeError("attempt to call something which is not a function but %1%, at %2%", fun, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "attempt to call something which is not a function but %1%", fun);
 
     ExprLambda & lambda(*fun.lambda.fun);
 
@@ -1160,8 +1190,8 @@ void EvalState::callFunction(Value & fun, Value & arg, Value & v, const Pos & po
         for (auto & i : lambda.formals->formals) {
             Bindings::iterator j = arg.attrs->find(i.name);
             if (j == arg.attrs->end()) {
-                if (!i.def) throwTypeError("%1% called without required argument '%2%', at %3%",
-                    lambda, i.name, pos);
+                if (!i.def) throwTypeError(pos, "%1% called without required argument '%2%'",
+                    lambda, i.name);
                 env2.values[displ++] = i.def->maybeThunk(*this, env2);
             } else {
                 attrsUsed++;
@@ -1176,7 +1206,7 @@ void EvalState::callFunction(Value & fun, Value & arg, Value & v, const Pos & po
                user. */
             for (auto & i : *arg.attrs)
                 if (lambda.formals->argNames.find(i.name) == lambda.formals->argNames.end())
-                    throwTypeError("%1% called with unexpected argument '%2%', at %3%", lambda, i.name, pos);
+                    throwTypeError(pos, "%1% called with unexpected argument '%2%'", lambda, i.name);
             abort(); // can't happen
         }
     }
@@ -1256,7 +1286,7 @@ void ExprWith::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
 
 void ExprIf::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
 {
-    (state.evalBool(env, cond) ? then : else_)->eval(state, env, v);
+    (state.evalBool(env, cond, pos) ? then : else_)->eval(state, env, v);
 }
 
 
@@ -1265,7 +1295,7 @@ void ExprAssert::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
     if (!state.evalBool(env, cond, pos)) {
         std::ostringstream out;
         cond->show(out);
-        throwAssertionError("assertion '%1%' failed at %2%", out.str(), pos);
+        throwAssertionError(pos, "assertion '%1%' failed at %2%", out.str());
     }
     body->eval(state, env, v);
 }
@@ -1417,14 +1447,14 @@ void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
                 nf = n;
                 nf += vTmp.fpoint;
             } else
-                throwEvalError("cannot add %1% to an integer, at %2%", showType(vTmp), pos);
+                throwEvalError(pos, "cannot add %1% to an integer", showType(vTmp));
         } else if (firstType == tFloat) {
             if (vTmp.type == tInt) {
                 nf += vTmp.integer;
             } else if (vTmp.type == tFloat) {
                 nf += vTmp.fpoint;
             } else
-                throwEvalError("cannot add %1% to a float, at %2%", showType(vTmp), pos);
+                throwEvalError(pos, "cannot add %1% to a float", showType(vTmp));
         } else
             s << state.coerceToString(pos, vTmp, context, false, firstType == tString);
     }
@@ -1435,7 +1465,7 @@ void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
         mkFloat(v, nf);
     else if (firstType == tPath) {
         if (!context.empty())
-            throwEvalError("a string that refers to a store path cannot be appended to a path, at %1%", pos);
+            throwEvalError(pos, "a string that refers to a store path cannot be appended to a path");
         auto path = canonPath(s.str());
         mkPath(v, path.c_str());
     } else
@@ -1484,7 +1514,7 @@ NixInt EvalState::forceInt(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
 {
     forceValue(v, pos);
     if (v.type != tInt)
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while an integer was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while an integer was expected", v);
     return v.integer;
 }
 
@@ -1495,16 +1525,16 @@ NixFloat EvalState::forceFloat(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
     if (v.type == tInt)
         return v.integer;
     else if (v.type != tFloat)
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a float was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a float was expected", v);
     return v.fpoint;
 }
 
 
 bool EvalState::forceBool(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
 {
-    forceValue(v);
+    forceValue(v, pos);
     if (v.type != tBool)
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a Boolean was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a Boolean was expected", v);
     return v.boolean;
 }
 
@@ -1517,9 +1547,9 @@ bool EvalState::isFunctor(Value & fun)
 
 void EvalState::forceFunction(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
 {
-    forceValue(v);
+    forceValue(v, pos);
     if (v.type != tLambda && v.type != tPrimOp && v.type != tPrimOpApp && !isFunctor(v))
-        throwTypeError("value is %1% while a function was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+        throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a function was expected", v);
 }
 
 
@@ -1528,7 +1558,7 @@ string EvalState::forceString(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
     forceValue(v, pos);
     if (v.type != tString) {
         if (pos)
-            throwTypeError("value is %1% while a string was expected, at %2%", v, pos);
+            throwTypeError(pos, "value is %1% while a string was expected", v);
         else
             throwTypeError("value is %1% while a string was expected", v);
     }
@@ -1557,8 +1587,8 @@ string EvalState::forceStringNoCtx(Value & v, const Pos & pos)
     string s = forceString(v, pos);
     if (v.string.context) {
         if (pos)
-            throwEvalError("the string '%1%' is not allowed to refer to a store path (such as '%2%'), at %3%",
-                v.string.s, v.string.context[0], pos);
+            throwEvalError(pos, "the string '%1%' is not allowed to refer to a store path (such as '%2%')",
+                v.string.s, v.string.context[0]);
         else
             throwEvalError("the string '%1%' is not allowed to refer to a store path (such as '%2%')",
                 v.string.s, v.string.context[0]);
@@ -1594,7 +1624,7 @@ std::optional<string> EvalState::tryAttrsToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v,
 string EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
     bool coerceMore, bool copyToStore)
 {
-    forceValue(v);
+    forceValue(v, pos);
 
     string s;
 
@@ -1614,7 +1644,7 @@ string EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
             return *maybeString;
         }
         auto i = v.attrs->find(sOutPath);
-        if (i == v.attrs->end()) throwTypeError("cannot coerce a set to a string, at %1%", pos);
+        if (i == v.attrs->end()) throwTypeError(pos, "cannot coerce a set to a string");
         return coerceToString(pos, *i->value, context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
     }
 
@@ -1645,7 +1675,7 @@ string EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
         }
     }
 
-    throwTypeError("cannot coerce %1% to a string, at %2%", v, pos);
+    throwTypeError(pos, "cannot coerce %1% to a string", v);
 }
 
 
@@ -1661,7 +1691,7 @@ string EvalState::copyPathToStore(PathSet & context, const Path & path)
     else {
         auto p = settings.readOnlyMode
             ? store->computeStorePathForPath(std::string(baseNameOf(path)), checkSourcePath(path)).first
-            : store->addToStore(std::string(baseNameOf(path)), checkSourcePath(path), true, htSHA256, defaultPathFilter, repair);
+            : store->addToStore(std::string(baseNameOf(path)), checkSourcePath(path), FileIngestionMethod::Recursive, htSHA256, defaultPathFilter, repair);
         dstPath = store->printStorePath(p);
         srcToStore.insert_or_assign(path, std::move(p));
         printMsg(lvlChatty, "copied source '%1%' -> '%2%'", path, dstPath);
@@ -1676,7 +1706,7 @@ Path EvalState::coerceToPath(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context)
 {
     string path = coerceToString(pos, v, context, false, false);
     if (path == "" || path[0] != '/')
-        throwEvalError("string '%1%' doesn't represent an absolute path, at %2%", path, pos);
+        throwEvalError(pos, "string '%1%' doesn't represent an absolute path", path);
     return path;
 }
 
@@ -1883,8 +1913,10 @@ void EvalState::printStats()
 
 string ExternalValueBase::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, PathSet & context, bool copyMore, bool copyToStore) const
 {
-    throw TypeError(format("cannot coerce %1% to a string, at %2%") %
-        showType() % pos);
+    throw TypeError({
+        .hint = hintfmt("cannot coerce %1% to a string", showType()),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.hh b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
index eac53b894..1485dc7fe 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
@@ -272,6 +272,7 @@ public:
     Env & allocEnv(size_t size);
 
     Value * allocAttr(Value & vAttrs, const Symbol & name);
+    Value * allocAttr(Value & vAttrs, const std::string & name);
 
     Bindings * allocBindings(size_t capacity);
 
@@ -367,7 +368,7 @@ struct EvalSettings : Config
         "Prefixes of URIs that builtin functions such as fetchurl and fetchGit are allowed to fetch."};
 
     Setting<bool> traceFunctionCalls{this, false, "trace-function-calls",
-        "Emit log messages for each function entry and exit at the 'vomit' log level (-vvvv)"};
+        "Emit log messages for each function entry and exit at the 'vomit' log level (-vvvv)."};
 };
 
 extern EvalSettings evalSettings;
diff --git a/src/libexpr/function-trace.cc b/src/libexpr/function-trace.cc
index af1486f78..c6057b384 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/function-trace.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/function-trace.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "function-trace.hh"
+#include "logging.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/json-to-value.cc b/src/libexpr/json-to-value.cc
index 1fdce1983..76e1a26bf 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/json-to-value.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/json-to-value.cc
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 
 using json = nlohmann::json;
-using std::unique_ptr;
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -13,69 +12,69 @@ namespace nix {
 class JSONSax : nlohmann::json_sax<json> {
     class JSONState {
     protected:
-        unique_ptr<JSONState> parent;
-        Value * v;
+        std::unique_ptr<JSONState> parent;
+        RootValue v;
     public:
-        virtual unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState &)
+        virtual std::unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState &)
         {
             throw std::logic_error("tried to close toplevel json parser state");
-        };
-        explicit JSONState(unique_ptr<JSONState>&& p) : parent(std::move(p)), v(nullptr) {};
-        explicit JSONState(Value* v) : v(v) {};
-        JSONState(JSONState& p) = delete;
-        Value& value(EvalState & state)
+        }
+        explicit JSONState(std::unique_ptr<JSONState> && p) : parent(std::move(p)) {}
+        explicit JSONState(Value * v) : v(allocRootValue(v)) {}
+        JSONState(JSONState & p) = delete;
+        Value & value(EvalState & state)
         {
-            if (v == nullptr)
-                v = state.allocValue();
-            return *v;
-        };
-        virtual ~JSONState() {};
-        virtual void add() {};
+            if (!v)
+                v = allocRootValue(state.allocValue());
+            return **v;
+        }
+        virtual ~JSONState() {}
+        virtual void add() {}
     };
 
     class JSONObjectState : public JSONState {
         using JSONState::JSONState;
-        ValueMap attrs = ValueMap();
-        virtual unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState & state) override
+        ValueMap attrs;
+        std::unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState & state) override
         {
-            Value& v = parent->value(state);
+            Value & v = parent->value(state);
             state.mkAttrs(v, attrs.size());
             for (auto & i : attrs)
                 v.attrs->push_back(Attr(i.first, i.second));
             return std::move(parent);
         }
-        virtual void add() override { v = nullptr; };
+        void add() override { v = nullptr; }
     public:
-        void key(string_t& name, EvalState & state)
+        void key(string_t & name, EvalState & state)
         {
-            attrs[state.symbols.create(name)] = &value(state);
+            attrs.insert_or_assign(state.symbols.create(name), &value(state));
         }
     };
 
     class JSONListState : public JSONState {
-        ValueVector values = ValueVector();
-        virtual unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState & state) override
+        ValueVector values;
+        std::unique_ptr<JSONState> resolve(EvalState & state) override
         {
-            Value& v = parent->value(state);
+            Value & v = parent->value(state);
             state.mkList(v, values.size());
             for (size_t n = 0; n < values.size(); ++n) {
                 v.listElems()[n] = values[n];
             }
             return std::move(parent);
         }
-        virtual void add() override {
-            values.push_back(v);
+        void add() override {
+            values.push_back(*v);
             v = nullptr;
-        };
+        }
     public:
-        JSONListState(unique_ptr<JSONState>&& p, std::size_t reserve) : JSONState(std::move(p))
+        JSONListState(std::unique_ptr<JSONState> && p, std::size_t reserve) : JSONState(std::move(p))
         {
             values.reserve(reserve);
         }
     };
 
     EvalState & state;
-    unique_ptr<JSONState> rs;
+    std::unique_ptr<JSONState> rs;
 
     template<typename T, typename... Args> inline bool handle_value(T f, Args... args)
     {
@@ -107,12 +106,12 @@ public:
         return handle_value(mkInt, val);
     }
 
-    bool number_float(number_float_t val, const string_t& s)
+    bool number_float(number_float_t val, const string_t & s)
     {
         return handle_value(mkFloat, val);
     }
 
-    bool string(string_t& val)
+    bool string(string_t & val)
     {
         return handle_value<void(Value&, const char*)>(mkString, val.c_str());
     }
@@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ public:
         return true;
     }
 
-    bool key(string_t& name)
+    bool key(string_t & name)
     {
         dynamic_cast<JSONObjectState*>(rs.get())->key(name, state);
         return true;
diff --git a/src/libexpr/lexer.l b/src/libexpr/lexer.l
index c34e5c383..f6e83926b 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/lexer.l
+++ b/src/libexpr/lexer.l
@@ -127,14 +127,14 @@ or          { return OR_KW; }
               try {
                   yylval->n = boost::lexical_cast<int64_t>(yytext);
               } catch (const boost::bad_lexical_cast &) {
-                  throw ParseError(format("invalid integer '%1%'") % yytext);
+                  throw ParseError("invalid integer '%1%'", yytext);
               }
               return INT;
             }
 {FLOAT}     { errno = 0;
               yylval->nf = strtod(yytext, 0);
               if (errno != 0)
-                  throw ParseError(format("invalid float '%1%'") % yytext);
+                  throw ParseError("invalid float '%1%'", yytext);
               return FLOAT;
             }
 
@@ -219,4 +219,3 @@ or          { return OR_KW; }
             }
 
 %%
-
diff --git a/src/libexpr/local.mk b/src/libexpr/local.mk
index 8a9b3c2ea..9ed39e745 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/local.mk
+++ b/src/libexpr/local.mk
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ libexpr_DIR := $(d)
 
 libexpr_SOURCES := $(wildcard $(d)/*.cc) $(wildcard $(d)/primops/*.cc) $(d)/lexer-tab.cc $(d)/parser-tab.cc
 
-libexpr_LIBS = libutil libstore libnixrust
+libexpr_CXXFLAGS += -I src/libutil -I src/libstore -I src/libfetchers -I src/libmain -I src/libexpr
+
+libexpr_LIBS = libutil libstore libfetchers
 
 libexpr_LDFLAGS =
 ifneq ($(OS), FreeBSD)
diff --git a/src/libexpr/names.cc b/src/libexpr/names.cc
deleted file mode 100644
index d1c8a6101..000000000
--- a/src/libexpr/names.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,107 +0,0 @@
-#include "names.hh"
-#include "util.hh"
-
-
-namespace nix {
-
-
-DrvName::DrvName()
-{
-    name = "";
-}
-
-
-/* Parse a derivation name.  The `name' part of a derivation name is
-   everything up to but not including the first dash *not* followed by
-   a letter.  The `version' part is the rest (excluding the separating
-   dash).  E.g., `apache-httpd-2.0.48' is parsed to (`apache-httpd',
-   '2.0.48'). */
-DrvName::DrvName(std::string_view s) : hits(0)
-{
-    name = fullName = std::string(s);
-    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < s.size(); ++i) {
-        /* !!! isalpha/isdigit are affected by the locale. */
-        if (s[i] == '-' && i + 1 < s.size() && !isalpha(s[i + 1])) {
-            name = s.substr(0, i);
-            version = s.substr(i + 1);
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-
-bool DrvName::matches(DrvName & n)
-{
-    if (name != "*") {
-        if (!regex) regex = std::unique_ptr<std::regex>(new std::regex(name, std::regex::extended));
-        if (!std::regex_match(n.name, *regex)) return false;
-    }
-    if (version != "" && version != n.version) return false;
-    return true;
-}
-
-
-string nextComponent(string::const_iterator & p,
-    const string::const_iterator end)
-{
-    /* Skip any dots and dashes (component separators). */
-    while (p != end && (*p == '.' || *p == '-')) ++p;
-
-    if (p == end) return "";
-
-    /* If the first character is a digit, consume the longest sequence
-       of digits.  Otherwise, consume the longest sequence of
-       non-digit, non-separator characters. */
-    string s;
-    if (isdigit(*p))
-        while (p != end && isdigit(*p)) s += *p++;
-    else
-        while (p != end && (!isdigit(*p) && *p != '.' && *p != '-'))
-            s += *p++;
-
-    return s;
-}
-
-
-static bool componentsLT(const string & c1, const string & c2)
-{
-    int n1, n2;
-    bool c1Num = string2Int(c1, n1), c2Num = string2Int(c2, n2);
-
-    if (c1Num && c2Num) return n1 < n2;
-    else if (c1 == "" && c2Num) return true;
-    else if (c1 == "pre" && c2 != "pre") return true;
-    else if (c2 == "pre") return false;
-    /* Assume that `2.3a' < `2.3.1'. */
-    else if (c2Num) return true;
-    else if (c1Num) return false;
-    else return c1 < c2;
-}
-
-
-int compareVersions(const string & v1, const string & v2)
-{
-    string::const_iterator p1 = v1.begin();
-    string::const_iterator p2 = v2.begin();
-
-    while (p1 != v1.end() || p2 != v2.end()) {
-        string c1 = nextComponent(p1, v1.end());
-        string c2 = nextComponent(p2, v2.end());
-        if (componentsLT(c1, c2)) return -1;
-        else if (componentsLT(c2, c1)) return 1;
-    }
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-
-DrvNames drvNamesFromArgs(const Strings & opArgs)
-{
-    DrvNames result;
-    for (auto & i : opArgs)
-        result.push_back(DrvName(i));
-    return result;
-}
-
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libexpr/names.hh b/src/libexpr/names.hh
deleted file mode 100644
index 00e14b8c7..000000000
--- a/src/libexpr/names.hh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include <memory>
-
-#include "types.hh"
-#include <regex>
-
-namespace nix {
-
-struct DrvName
-{
-    string fullName;
-    string name;
-    string version;
-    unsigned int hits;
-
-    DrvName();
-    DrvName(std::string_view s);
-    bool matches(DrvName & n);
-
-private:
-    std::unique_ptr<std::regex> regex;
-};
-
-typedef list<DrvName> DrvNames;
-
-string nextComponent(string::const_iterator & p,
-    const string::const_iterator end);
-int compareVersions(const string & v1, const string & v2);
-DrvNames drvNamesFromArgs(const Strings & opArgs);
-
-}
diff --git a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
index 63cbef1dd..b4b65883d 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.cc
@@ -267,8 +267,11 @@ void ExprVar::bindVars(const StaticEnv & env)
     /* Otherwise, the variable must be obtained from the nearest
        enclosing `with'.  If there is no `with', then we can issue an
        "undefined variable" error now. */
-    if (withLevel == -1) throw UndefinedVarError(format("undefined variable '%1%' at %2%") % name % pos);
-
+    if (withLevel == -1)
+        throw UndefinedVarError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("undefined variable '%1%'", name),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     fromWith = true;
     this->level = withLevel;
 }
diff --git a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
index f7e9105a4..ec6fd3190 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include "value.hh"
 #include "symbol-table.hh"
+#include "error.hh"
 
 #include <map>
 
@@ -209,9 +210,10 @@ struct ExprList : Expr
 
 struct Formal
 {
+    Pos pos;
     Symbol name;
     Expr * def;
-    Formal(const Symbol & name, Expr * def) : name(name), def(def) { };
+    Formal(const Pos & pos, const Symbol & name, Expr * def) : pos(pos), name(name), def(def) { };
 };
 
 struct Formals
@@ -234,8 +236,10 @@ struct ExprLambda : Expr
         : pos(pos), arg(arg), matchAttrs(matchAttrs), formals(formals), body(body)
     {
         if (!arg.empty() && formals && formals->argNames.find(arg) != formals->argNames.end())
-            throw ParseError(format("duplicate formal function argument '%1%' at %2%")
-                % arg % pos);
+            throw ParseError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("duplicate formal function argument '%1%'", arg),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
     };
     void setName(Symbol & name);
     string showNamePos() const;
@@ -261,8 +265,9 @@ struct ExprWith : Expr
 
 struct ExprIf : Expr
 {
+    Pos pos;
     Expr * cond, * then, * else_;
-    ExprIf(Expr * cond, Expr * then, Expr * else_) : cond(cond), then(then), else_(else_) { };
+    ExprIf(const Pos & pos, Expr * cond, Expr * then, Expr * else_) : pos(pos), cond(cond), then(then), else_(else_) { };
     COMMON_METHODS
 };
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/parser.y b/src/libexpr/parser.y
index 9c769e803..a639be64e 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/parser.y
+++ b/src/libexpr/parser.y
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ namespace nix {
         Expr * result;
         Path basePath;
         Symbol path;
-        string error;
+        ErrorInfo error;
         Symbol sLetBody;
         ParseData(EvalState & state)
             : state(state)
@@ -64,15 +64,20 @@ namespace nix {
 
 static void dupAttr(const AttrPath & attrPath, const Pos & pos, const Pos & prevPos)
 {
-    throw ParseError(format("attribute '%1%' at %2% already defined at %3%")
-        % showAttrPath(attrPath) % pos % prevPos);
+    throw ParseError({
+        .hint = hintfmt("attribute '%1%' already defined at %2%",
+            showAttrPath(attrPath), prevPos),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos },
+    });
 }
 
 
 static void dupAttr(Symbol attr, const Pos & pos, const Pos & prevPos)
 {
-    throw ParseError(format("attribute '%1%' at %2% already defined at %3%")
-        % attr % pos % prevPos);
+    throw ParseError({
+        .hint = hintfmt("attribute '%1%' already defined at %2%", attr, prevPos),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos },
+    });
 }
 
 
@@ -140,8 +145,11 @@ static void addAttr(ExprAttrs * attrs, AttrPath & attrPath,
 static void addFormal(const Pos & pos, Formals * formals, const Formal & formal)
 {
     if (!formals->argNames.insert(formal.name).second)
-        throw ParseError(format("duplicate formal function argument '%1%' at %2%")
-            % formal.name % pos);
+        throw ParseError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("duplicate formal function argument '%1%'",
+                formal.name),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos },
+        });
     formals->formals.push_front(formal);
 }
 
@@ -249,8 +257,10 @@ static inline Pos makeCurPos(const YYLTYPE & loc, ParseData * data)
 
 void yyerror(YYLTYPE * loc, yyscan_t scanner, ParseData * data, const char * error)
 {
-    data->error = (format("%1%, at %2%")
-        % error % makeCurPos(*loc, data)).str();
+    data->error = {
+        .hint = hintfmt(error),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = makeCurPos(*loc, data) }
+    };
 }
 
 
@@ -327,15 +337,17 @@ expr_function
     { $$ = new ExprWith(CUR_POS, $2, $4); }
   | LET binds IN expr_function
     { if (!$2->dynamicAttrs.empty())
-        throw ParseError(format("dynamic attributes not allowed in let at %1%")
-            % CUR_POS);
+        throw ParseError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("dynamic attributes not allowed in let"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = CUR_POS },
+        });
       $$ = new ExprLet($2, $4);
     }
   | expr_if
   ;
 
 expr_if
-  : IF expr THEN expr ELSE expr { $$ = new ExprIf($2, $4, $6); }
+  : IF expr THEN expr ELSE expr { $$ = new ExprIf(CUR_POS, $2, $4, $6); }
   | expr_op
   ;
 
@@ -405,7 +417,10 @@ expr_simple
   | URI {
       static bool noURLLiterals = settings.isExperimentalFeatureEnabled("no-url-literals");
       if (noURLLiterals)
-          throw ParseError("URL literals are disabled, at %s", CUR_POS);
+          throw ParseError({
+              .hint = hintfmt("URL literals are disabled"),
+              .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = CUR_POS }
+          });
       $$ = new ExprString(data->symbols.create($1));
   }
   | '(' expr ')' { $$ = $2; }
@@ -475,8 +490,10 @@ attrs
           $$->push_back(AttrName(str->s));
           delete str;
       } else
-          throw ParseError(format("dynamic attributes not allowed in inherit at %1%")
-              % makeCurPos(@2, data));
+          throw ParseError({
+              .hint = hintfmt("dynamic attributes not allowed in inherit"),
+              .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = makeCurPos(@2, data) },
+          });
     }
   | { $$ = new AttrPath; }
   ;
@@ -531,8 +548,8 @@ formals
   ;
 
 formal
-  : ID { $$ = new Formal(data->symbols.create($1), 0); }
-  | ID '?' expr { $$ = new Formal(data->symbols.create($1), $3); }
+  : ID { $$ = new Formal(CUR_POS, data->symbols.create($1), 0); }
+  | ID '?' expr { $$ = new Formal(CUR_POS, data->symbols.create($1), $3); }
   ;
 
 %%
@@ -544,7 +561,8 @@ formal
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "eval.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
+#include "filetransfer.hh"
+#include "fetchers.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 
 
@@ -670,11 +688,13 @@ Path EvalState::findFile(SearchPath & searchPath, const string & path, const Pos
         Path res = r.second + suffix;
         if (pathExists(res)) return canonPath(res);
     }
-    format f = format(
-        "file '%1%' was not found in the Nix search path (add it using $NIX_PATH or -I)"
-        + string(pos ? ", at %2%" : ""));
-    f.exceptions(boost::io::all_error_bits ^ boost::io::too_many_args_bit);
-    throw ThrownError(f % path % pos);
+    throw ThrownError({
+        .hint = hintfmt(evalSettings.pureEval
+            ? "cannot look up '<%s>' in pure evaluation mode (use '--impure' to override)"
+            : "file '%s' was not found in the Nix search path (add it using $NIX_PATH or -I)",
+            path),
+        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+    });
 }
 
 
@@ -687,11 +707,13 @@ std::pair<bool, std::string> EvalState::resolveSearchPathElem(const SearchPathEl
 
     if (isUri(elem.second)) {
         try {
-            CachedDownloadRequest request(elem.second);
-            request.unpack = true;
-            res = { true, getDownloader()->downloadCached(store, request).path };
-        } catch (DownloadError & e) {
-            printError(format("warning: Nix search path entry '%1%' cannot be downloaded, ignoring") % elem.second);
+            res = { true, store->toRealPath(fetchers::downloadTarball(
+                        store, resolveUri(elem.second), "source", false).storePath) };
+        } catch (FileTransferError & e) {
+            logWarning({
+                .name = "Entry download",
+                .hint = hintfmt("Nix search path entry '%1%' cannot be downloaded, ignoring", elem.second)
+            });
             res = { false, "" };
         }
     } else {
@@ -699,7 +721,10 @@ std::pair<bool, std::string> EvalState::resolveSearchPathElem(const SearchPathEl
         if (pathExists(path))
             res = { true, path };
         else {
-            printError(format("warning: Nix search path entry '%1%' does not exist, ignoring") % elem.second);
+            logWarning({
+                .name = "Entry not found",
+                .hint = hintfmt("warning: Nix search path entry '%1%' does not exist, ignoring", elem.second)
+            });
             res = { false, "" };
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index c9a16784e..925cccbfe 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #include "archive.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "globals.hh"
@@ -56,7 +55,7 @@ void EvalState::realiseContext(const PathSet & context)
         if (!store->isValidPath(ctx))
             throw InvalidPathError(store->printStorePath(ctx));
         if (!decoded.second.empty() && ctx.isDerivation()) {
-            drvs.push_back(StorePathWithOutputs{ctx.clone(), {decoded.second}});
+            drvs.push_back(StorePathWithOutputs{ctx, {decoded.second}});
 
             /* Add the output of this derivation to the allowed
                paths. */
@@ -94,8 +93,10 @@ static void prim_scopedImport(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args
     try {
         state.realiseContext(context);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot import '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % path % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("cannot import '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid", path, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 
     Path realPath = state.checkSourcePath(state.toRealPath(path, context));
@@ -122,16 +123,16 @@ static void prim_scopedImport(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args
         }
         w.attrs->sort();
 
-        static Value * fun = nullptr;
+        static RootValue fun;
         if (!fun) {
-            fun = state.allocValue();
+            fun = allocRootValue(state.allocValue());
             state.eval(state.parseExprFromString(
                 #include "imported-drv-to-derivation.nix.gen.hh"
-                , "/"), *fun);
+                , "/"), **fun);
         }
 
-        state.forceFunction(*fun, pos);
-        mkApp(v, *fun, w);
+        state.forceFunction(**fun, pos);
+        mkApp(v, **fun, w);
         state.forceAttrs(v, pos);
     } else {
         state.forceAttrs(*args[0]);
@@ -171,8 +172,12 @@ void prim_importNative(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
     try {
         state.realiseContext(context);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot import '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % path % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt(
+                "cannot import '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid",
+                path, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 
     path = state.checkSourcePath(path);
@@ -181,17 +186,17 @@ void prim_importNative(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 
     void *handle = dlopen(path.c_str(), RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_LOCAL);
     if (!handle)
-        throw EvalError(format("could not open '%1%': %2%") % path % dlerror());
+        throw EvalError("could not open '%1%': %2%", path, dlerror());
 
     dlerror();
     ValueInitializer func = (ValueInitializer) dlsym(handle, sym.c_str());
     if(!func) {
         char *message = dlerror();
         if (message)
-            throw EvalError(format("could not load symbol '%1%' from '%2%': %3%") % sym % path % message);
+            throw EvalError("could not load symbol '%1%' from '%2%': %3%", sym, path, message);
         else
-            throw EvalError(format("symbol '%1%' from '%2%' resolved to NULL when a function pointer was expected")
-                    % sym % path);
+            throw EvalError("symbol '%1%' from '%2%' resolved to NULL when a function pointer was expected",
+                sym, path);
     }
 
     (func)(state, v);
@@ -207,7 +212,10 @@ void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
     auto elems = args[0]->listElems();
     auto count = args[0]->listSize();
     if (count == 0) {
-        throw EvalError(format("at least one argument to 'exec' required, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("at least one argument to 'exec' required"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
     PathSet context;
     auto program = state.coerceToString(pos, *elems[0], context, false, false);
@@ -218,8 +226,11 @@ void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
     try {
         state.realiseContext(context);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot execute '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % program % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("cannot execute '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid",
+                program, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 
     auto output = runProgram(program, true, commandArgs);
@@ -227,13 +238,13 @@ void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
     try {
         parsed = state.parseExprFromString(output, pos.file);
     } catch (Error & e) {
-        e.addPrefix(format("While parsing the output from '%1%', at %2%\n") % program % pos);
+        e.addPrefix(fmt("While parsing the output from '%1%', at %2%\n", program, pos));
         throw;
     }
     try {
         state.eval(parsed, v);
     } catch (Error & e) {
-        e.addPrefix(format("While evaluating the output from '%1%', at %2%\n") % program % pos);
+        e.addPrefix(fmt("While evaluating the output from '%1%', at %2%\n", program, pos));
         throw;
     }
 }
@@ -242,7 +253,7 @@ void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 /* Return a string representing the type of the expression. */
 static void prim_typeOf(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     string t;
     switch (args[0]->type) {
         case tInt: t = "int"; break;
@@ -270,7 +281,7 @@ static void prim_typeOf(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 /* Determine whether the argument is the null value. */
 static void prim_isNull(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tNull);
 }
 
@@ -278,7 +289,7 @@ static void prim_isNull(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 /* Determine whether the argument is a function. */
 static void prim_isFunction(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     bool res;
     switch (args[0]->type) {
         case tLambda:
@@ -297,21 +308,21 @@ static void prim_isFunction(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
 /* Determine whether the argument is an integer. */
 static void prim_isInt(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tInt);
 }
 
 /* Determine whether the argument is a float. */
 static void prim_isFloat(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tFloat);
 }
 
 /* Determine whether the argument is a string. */
 static void prim_isString(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tString);
 }
 
@@ -319,14 +330,14 @@ static void prim_isString(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
 /* Determine whether the argument is a Boolean. */
 static void prim_isBool(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tBool);
 }
 
 /* Determine whether the argument is a path. */
 static void prim_isPath(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tPath);
 }
 
@@ -339,7 +350,7 @@ struct CompareValues
         if (v1->type == tInt && v2->type == tFloat)
             return v1->integer < v2->fpoint;
         if (v1->type != v2->type)
-            throw EvalError(format("cannot compare %1% with %2%") % showType(*v1) % showType(*v2));
+            throw EvalError("cannot compare %1% with %2%", showType(*v1), showType(*v2));
         switch (v1->type) {
             case tInt:
                 return v1->integer < v2->integer;
@@ -350,7 +361,7 @@ struct CompareValues
             case tPath:
                 return strcmp(v1->path, v2->path) < 0;
             default:
-                throw EvalError(format("cannot compare %1% with %2%") % showType(*v1) % showType(*v2));
+                throw EvalError("cannot compare %1% with %2%", showType(*v1), showType(*v2));
         }
     }
 };
@@ -371,7 +382,10 @@ static void prim_genericClosure(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
     Bindings::iterator startSet =
         args[0]->attrs->find(state.symbols.create("startSet"));
     if (startSet == args[0]->attrs->end())
-        throw EvalError(format("attribute 'startSet' required, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("attribute 'startSet' required"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     state.forceList(*startSet->value, pos);
 
     ValueList workSet;
@@ -382,8 +396,11 @@ static void prim_genericClosure(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
     Bindings::iterator op =
         args[0]->attrs->find(state.symbols.create("operator"));
     if (op == args[0]->attrs->end())
-        throw EvalError(format("attribute 'operator' required, at %1%") % pos);
-    state.forceValue(*op->value);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("attribute 'operator' required"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
+    state.forceValue(*op->value, pos);
 
     /* Construct the closure by applying the operator to element of
        `workSet', adding the result to `workSet', continuing until
@@ -401,8 +418,11 @@ static void prim_genericClosure(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
         Bindings::iterator key =
             e->attrs->find(state.symbols.create("key"));
         if (key == e->attrs->end())
-            throw EvalError(format("attribute 'key' required, at %1%") % pos);
-        state.forceValue(*key->value);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("attribute 'key' required"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
+        state.forceValue(*key->value, pos);
 
         if (!doneKeys.insert(key->value).second) continue;
         res.push_back(e);
@@ -414,7 +434,7 @@ static void prim_genericClosure(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
 
         /* Add the values returned by the operator to the work set. */
         for (unsigned int n = 0; n < call.listSize(); ++n) {
-            state.forceValue(*call.listElems()[n]);
+            state.forceValue(*call.listElems()[n], pos);
             workSet.push_back(call.listElems()[n]);
         }
     }
@@ -431,7 +451,7 @@ static void prim_abort(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 {
     PathSet context;
     string s = state.coerceToString(pos, *args[0], context);
-    throw Abort(format("evaluation aborted with the following error message: '%1%'") % s);
+    throw Abort("evaluation aborted with the following error message: '%1%'", s);
 }
 
 
@@ -446,7 +466,7 @@ static void prim_throw(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 static void prim_addErrorContext(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
     try {
-        state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+        state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
         v = *args[1];
     } catch (Error & e) {
         PathSet context;
@@ -462,7 +482,7 @@ static void prim_tryEval(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Val
 {
     state.mkAttrs(v, 2);
     try {
-        state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+        state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
         v.attrs->push_back(Attr(state.sValue, args[0]));
         mkBool(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("success")), true);
     } catch (AssertionError & e) {
@@ -484,8 +504,8 @@ static void prim_getEnv(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 /* Evaluate the first argument, then return the second argument. */
 static void prim_seq(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
-    state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
+    state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
     v = *args[1];
 }
 
@@ -495,7 +515,7 @@ static void prim_seq(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value &
 static void prim_deepSeq(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
     state.forceValueDeep(*args[0]);
-    state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
     v = *args[1];
 }
 
@@ -504,12 +524,12 @@ static void prim_deepSeq(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Val
    return the second expression.  Useful for debugging. */
 static void prim_trace(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     if (args[0]->type == tString)
-        printError(format("trace: %1%") % args[0]->string.s);
+        printError("trace: %1%", args[0]->string.s);
     else
-        printError(format("trace: %1%") % *args[0]);
-    state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+        printError("trace: %1%", *args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
     v = *args[1];
 }
 
@@ -533,13 +553,16 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
     /* Figure out the name first (for stack backtraces). */
     Bindings::iterator attr = args[0]->attrs->find(state.sName);
     if (attr == args[0]->attrs->end())
-        throw EvalError(format("required attribute 'name' missing, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("required attribute 'name' missing"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     string drvName;
     Pos & posDrvName(*attr->pos);
     try {
         drvName = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr->value, pos);
     } catch (Error & e) {
-        e.addPrefix(format("while evaluating the derivation attribute 'name' at %1%:\n") % posDrvName);
+        e.addPrefix(fmt("while evaluating the derivation attribute 'name' at %1%:\n", posDrvName));
         throw;
     }
 
@@ -563,7 +586,7 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
 
     std::optional<std::string> outputHash;
     std::string outputHashAlgo;
-    bool outputHashRecursive = false;
+    auto ingestionMethod = FileIngestionMethod::Flat;
 
     StringSet outputs;
     outputs.insert("out");
@@ -574,33 +597,46 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
         vomit("processing attribute '%1%'", key);
 
         auto handleHashMode = [&](const std::string & s) {
-            if (s == "recursive") outputHashRecursive = true;
-            else if (s == "flat") outputHashRecursive = false;
-            else throw EvalError("invalid value '%s' for 'outputHashMode' attribute, at %s", s, posDrvName);
+            if (s == "recursive") ingestionMethod = FileIngestionMethod::Recursive;
+            else if (s == "flat") ingestionMethod = FileIngestionMethod::Flat;
+            else
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("invalid value '%s' for 'outputHashMode' attribute", s),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+                });
         };
 
         auto handleOutputs = [&](const Strings & ss) {
             outputs.clear();
             for (auto & j : ss) {
                 if (outputs.find(j) != outputs.end())
-                    throw EvalError(format("duplicate derivation output '%1%', at %2%") % j % posDrvName);
+                    throw EvalError({
+                        .hint = hintfmt("duplicate derivation output '%1%'", j),
+                        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+                    });
                 /* !!! Check whether j is a valid attribute
                    name. */
                 /* Derivations cannot be named ‘drv’, because
                    then we'd have an attribute ‘drvPath’ in
                    the resulting set. */
                 if (j == "drv")
-                    throw EvalError(format("invalid derivation output name 'drv', at %1%") % posDrvName);
+                    throw EvalError({
+                        .hint = hintfmt("invalid derivation output name 'drv'" ),
+                        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+                    });
                 outputs.insert(j);
             }
             if (outputs.empty())
-                throw EvalError(format("derivation cannot have an empty set of outputs, at %1%") % posDrvName);
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("derivation cannot have an empty set of outputs"),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+                });
         };
 
         try {
 
             if (ignoreNulls) {
-                state.forceValue(*i->value);
+                state.forceValue(*i->value, pos);
                 if (i->value->type == tNull) continue;
             }
 
@@ -687,9 +723,9 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
             StorePathSet refs;
             state.store->computeFSClosure(state.store->parseStorePath(std::string_view(path).substr(1)), refs);
             for (auto & j : refs) {
-                drv.inputSrcs.insert(j.clone());
+                drv.inputSrcs.insert(j);
                 if (j.isDerivation())
-                    drv.inputDrvs[j.clone()] = state.store->queryDerivationOutputNames(j);
+                    drv.inputDrvs[j] = state.store->readDerivation(j).outputNames();
             }
         }
 
@@ -706,27 +742,44 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
 
     /* Do we have all required attributes? */
     if (drv.builder == "")
-        throw EvalError(format("required attribute 'builder' missing, at %1%") % posDrvName);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("required attribute 'builder' missing"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+        });
+
     if (drv.platform == "")
-        throw EvalError(format("required attribute 'system' missing, at %1%") % posDrvName);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("required attribute 'system' missing"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+        });
 
     /* Check whether the derivation name is valid. */
     if (isDerivation(drvName))
-        throw EvalError("derivation names are not allowed to end in '%s', at %s", drvExtension, posDrvName);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("derivation names are not allowed to end in '%s'", drvExtension),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+        });
 
     if (outputHash) {
         /* Handle fixed-output derivations. */
         if (outputs.size() != 1 || *(outputs.begin()) != "out")
-            throw Error(format("multiple outputs are not supported in fixed-output derivations, at %1%") % posDrvName);
+            throw Error({
+                .hint = hintfmt("multiple outputs are not supported in fixed-output derivations"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = posDrvName }
+            });
 
         HashType ht = outputHashAlgo.empty() ? htUnknown : parseHashType(outputHashAlgo);
-        Hash h(*outputHash, ht);
 
-        auto outPath = state.store->makeFixedOutputPath(outputHashRecursive, h, drvName);
+        Hash h = newHashAllowEmpty(*outputHash, ht);
+
+        auto outPath = state.store->makeFixedOutputPath(ingestionMethod, h, drvName);
         if (!jsonObject) drv.env["out"] = state.store->printStorePath(outPath);
-        drv.outputs.insert_or_assign("out", DerivationOutput(std::move(outPath),
-                (outputHashRecursive ? "r:" : "") + printHashType(h.type),
-                h.to_string(Base16, false)));
+        drv.outputs.insert_or_assign("out", DerivationOutput {
+            std::move(outPath),
+            (ingestionMethod == FileIngestionMethod::Recursive ? "r:" : "")
+                + printHashType(h.type),
+            h.to_string(Base16, false),
+        });
     }
 
     else {
@@ -739,7 +792,7 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
         for (auto & i : outputs) {
             if (!jsonObject) drv.env[i] = "";
             drv.outputs.insert_or_assign(i,
-                DerivationOutput(StorePath::dummy.clone(), "", ""));
+                DerivationOutput { StorePath::dummy, "", "" });
         }
 
         // Regular, non-CA derivation should always return a single hash and not
@@ -750,7 +803,7 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
             auto outPath = state.store->makeOutputPath(i, h, drvName);
             if (!jsonObject) drv.env[i] = state.store->printStorePath(outPath);
             drv.outputs.insert_or_assign(i,
-                DerivationOutput(std::move(outPath), "", ""));
+                DerivationOutput { std::move(outPath), "", "" });
         }
     }
 
@@ -763,7 +816,7 @@ static void prim_derivationStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * *
     /* Optimisation, but required in read-only mode! because in that
        case we don't actually write store derivations, so we can't
        read them later. */
-    drvHashes.insert_or_assign(drvPath.clone(),
+    drvHashes.insert_or_assign(drvPath,
         hashDerivationModulo(*state.store, Derivation(drv), false));
 
     state.mkAttrs(v, 1 + drv.outputs.size());
@@ -820,7 +873,10 @@ static void prim_storePath(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, V
        e.g. nix-push does the right thing. */
     if (!state.store->isStorePath(path)) path = canonPath(path, true);
     if (!state.store->isInStore(path))
-        throw EvalError(format("path '%1%' is not in the Nix store, at %2%") % path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("path '%1%' is not in the Nix store", path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     Path path2 = state.store->toStorePath(path);
     if (!settings.readOnlyMode)
         state.store->ensurePath(state.store->parseStorePath(path2));
@@ -836,9 +892,12 @@ static void prim_pathExists(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
     try {
         state.realiseContext(context);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format(
-                "cannot check the existence of '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % path % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt(
+                "cannot check the existence of '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid",
+                path, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 
     try {
@@ -881,12 +940,14 @@ static void prim_readFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
     try {
         state.realiseContext(context);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot read '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % path % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("cannot read '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid", path, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
     string s = readFile(state.checkSourcePath(state.toRealPath(path, context)));
     if (s.find((char) 0) != string::npos)
-        throw Error(format("the contents of the file '%1%' cannot be represented as a Nix string") % path);
+        throw Error("the contents of the file '%1%' cannot be represented as a Nix string", path);
     mkString(v, s.c_str());
 }
 
@@ -910,7 +971,10 @@ static void prim_findFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
 
         i = v2.attrs->find(state.symbols.create("path"));
         if (i == v2.attrs->end())
-            throw EvalError(format("attribute 'path' missing, at %1%") % pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("attribute 'path' missing"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
 
         PathSet context;
         string path = state.coerceToString(pos, *i->value, context, false, false);
@@ -918,8 +982,10 @@ static void prim_findFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
         try {
             state.realiseContext(context);
         } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-            throw EvalError(format("cannot find '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-                % path % e.path % pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("cannot find '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid", path, e.path),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         }
 
         searchPath.emplace_back(prefix, path);
@@ -936,7 +1002,10 @@ static void prim_hashFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
     string type = state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos);
     HashType ht = parseHashType(type);
     if (ht == htUnknown)
-      throw Error(format("unknown hash type '%1%', at %2%") % type % pos);
+      throw Error({
+          .hint = hintfmt("unknown hash type '%1%'", type),
+          .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+      });
 
     PathSet context; // discarded
     Path p = state.coerceToPath(pos, *args[1], context);
@@ -952,8 +1021,10 @@ static void prim_readDir(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Val
     try {
         state.realiseContext(ctx);
     } catch (InvalidPathError & e) {
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot read '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid, at %3%")
-            % path % e.path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("cannot read '%1%', since path '%2%' is not valid", path, e.path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 
     DirEntries entries = readDirectory(state.checkSourcePath(path));
@@ -1023,7 +1094,13 @@ static void prim_toFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 
     for (auto path : context) {
         if (path.at(0) != '/')
-            throw EvalError(format("in 'toFile': the file '%1%' cannot refer to derivation outputs, at %2%") % name % pos);
+            throw EvalError( {
+                .hint = hintfmt(
+                    "in 'toFile': the file named '%1%' must not contain a reference "
+                    "to a derivation but contains (%2%)",
+                    name, path),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         refs.insert(state.store->parseStorePath(path));
     }
 
@@ -1040,7 +1117,7 @@ static void prim_toFile(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 
 
 static void addPath(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, const string & name, const Path & path_,
-    Value * filterFun, bool recursive, const Hash & expectedHash, Value & v)
+    Value * filterFun, FileIngestionMethod method, const Hash & expectedHash, Value & v)
 {
     const auto path = evalSettings.pureEval && expectedHash ?
         path_ :
@@ -1071,12 +1148,12 @@ static void addPath(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, const string & name, con
 
     std::optional<StorePath> expectedStorePath;
     if (expectedHash)
-        expectedStorePath = state.store->makeFixedOutputPath(recursive, expectedHash, name);
+        expectedStorePath = state.store->makeFixedOutputPath(method, expectedHash, name);
     Path dstPath;
     if (!expectedHash || !state.store->isValidPath(*expectedStorePath)) {
         dstPath = state.store->printStorePath(settings.readOnlyMode
-            ? state.store->computeStorePathForPath(name, path, recursive, htSHA256, filter).first
-            : state.store->addToStore(name, path, recursive, htSHA256, filter, state.repair));
+            ? state.store->computeStorePathForPath(name, path, method, htSHA256, filter).first
+            : state.store->addToStore(name, path, method, htSHA256, filter, state.repair));
         if (expectedHash && expectedStorePath != state.store->parseStorePath(dstPath))
             throw Error("store path mismatch in (possibly filtered) path added from '%s'", path);
     } else
@@ -1091,13 +1168,21 @@ static void prim_filterSource(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args
     PathSet context;
     Path path = state.coerceToPath(pos, *args[1], context);
     if (!context.empty())
-        throw EvalError(format("string '%1%' cannot refer to other paths, at %2%") % path % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("string '%1%' cannot refer to other paths", path),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     if (args[0]->type != tLambda)
-        throw TypeError(format("first argument in call to 'filterSource' is not a function but %1%, at %2%") % showType(*args[0]) % pos);
+        throw TypeError({
+            .hint = hintfmt(
+                "first argument in call to 'filterSource' is not a function but %1%",
+                showType(*args[0])),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
-    addPath(state, pos, std::string(baseNameOf(path)), path, args[0], true, Hash(), v);
+    addPath(state, pos, std::string(baseNameOf(path)), path, args[0], FileIngestionMethod::Recursive, Hash(), v);
 }
 
 static void prim_path(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
@@ -1106,7 +1191,7 @@ static void prim_path(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
     Path path;
     string name;
     Value * filterFun = nullptr;
-    auto recursive = true;
+    auto method = FileIngestionMethod::Recursive;
     Hash expectedHash;
 
     for (auto & attr : *args[0]->attrs) {
@@ -1115,25 +1200,34 @@ static void prim_path(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
             PathSet context;
             path = state.coerceToPath(*attr.pos, *attr.value, context);
             if (!context.empty())
-                throw EvalError(format("string '%1%' cannot refer to other paths, at %2%") % path % *attr.pos);
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("string '%1%' cannot refer to other paths", path),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *attr.pos }
+                });
         } else if (attr.name == state.sName)
             name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
         else if (n == "filter") {
-            state.forceValue(*attr.value);
+            state.forceValue(*attr.value, pos);
             filterFun = attr.value;
         } else if (n == "recursive")
-            recursive = state.forceBool(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+            method = FileIngestionMethod { state.forceBool(*attr.value, *attr.pos) };
         else if (n == "sha256")
-            expectedHash = Hash(state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos), htSHA256);
+            expectedHash = newHashAllowEmpty(state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos), htSHA256);
         else
-            throw EvalError(format("unsupported argument '%1%' to 'addPath', at %2%") % attr.name % *attr.pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("unsupported argument '%1%' to 'addPath'", attr.name),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *attr.pos }
+            });
     }
     if (path.empty())
-        throw EvalError(format("'path' required, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("'path' required"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     if (name.empty())
         name = baseNameOf(path);
 
-    addPath(state, pos, name, path, filterFun, recursive, expectedHash, v);
+    addPath(state, pos, name, path, filterFun, method, expectedHash, v);
 }
 
 
@@ -1187,10 +1281,13 @@ void prim_getAttr(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
     // !!! Should we create a symbol here or just do a lookup?
     Bindings::iterator i = args[1]->attrs->find(state.symbols.create(attr));
     if (i == args[1]->attrs->end())
-        throw EvalError(format("attribute '%1%' missing, at %2%") % attr % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("attribute '%1%' missing", attr),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     // !!! add to stack trace?
     if (state.countCalls && i->pos) state.attrSelects[*i->pos]++;
-    state.forceValue(*i->value);
+    state.forceValue(*i->value, pos);
     v = *i->value;
 }
 
@@ -1220,7 +1317,7 @@ static void prim_hasAttr(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Val
 /* Determine whether the argument is a set. */
 static void prim_isAttrs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->type == tAttrs);
 }
 
@@ -1267,15 +1364,20 @@ static void prim_listToAttrs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
 
         Bindings::iterator j = v2.attrs->find(state.sName);
         if (j == v2.attrs->end())
-            throw TypeError(format("'name' attribute missing in a call to 'listToAttrs', at %1%") % pos);
+            throw TypeError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("'name' attribute missing in a call to 'listToAttrs'"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         string name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*j->value, pos);
 
         Symbol sym = state.symbols.create(name);
         if (seen.insert(sym).second) {
             Bindings::iterator j2 = v2.attrs->find(state.symbols.create(state.sValue));
             if (j2 == v2.attrs->end())
-                throw TypeError(format("'value' attribute missing in a call to 'listToAttrs', at %1%") % pos);
-
+                throw TypeError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("'value' attribute missing in a call to 'listToAttrs'"),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+                });
             v.attrs->push_back(Attr(sym, j2->value, j2->pos));
         }
     }
@@ -1346,9 +1448,12 @@ static void prim_catAttrs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
 */
 static void prim_functionArgs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     if (args[0]->type != tLambda)
-        throw TypeError(format("'functionArgs' requires a function, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw TypeError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("'functionArgs' requires a function"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     if (!args[0]->lambda.fun->matchAttrs) {
         state.mkAttrs(v, 0);
@@ -1356,9 +1461,12 @@ static void prim_functionArgs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args
     }
 
     state.mkAttrs(v, args[0]->lambda.fun->formals->formals.size());
-    for (auto & i : args[0]->lambda.fun->formals->formals)
+    for (auto & i : args[0]->lambda.fun->formals->formals) {
         // !!! should optimise booleans (allocate only once)
-        mkBool(*state.allocAttr(v, i.name), i.def);
+        Value * value = state.allocValue();
+        v.attrs->push_back(Attr(i.name, value, &i.pos));
+        mkBool(*value, i.def);
+    }
     v.attrs->sort();
 }
 
@@ -1389,7 +1497,7 @@ static void prim_mapAttrs(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
 /* Determine whether the argument is a list. */
 static void prim_isList(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
     mkBool(v, args[0]->isList());
 }
 
@@ -1398,8 +1506,11 @@ static void elemAt(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value & list, int n, Valu
 {
     state.forceList(list, pos);
     if (n < 0 || (unsigned int) n >= list.listSize())
-        throw Error(format("list index %1% is out of bounds, at %2%") % n % pos);
-    state.forceValue(*list.listElems()[n]);
+        throw Error({
+            .hint = hintfmt("list index %1% is out of bounds", n),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
+    state.forceValue(*list.listElems()[n], pos);
     v = *list.listElems()[n];
 }
 
@@ -1425,7 +1536,11 @@ static void prim_tail(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 {
     state.forceList(*args[0], pos);
     if (args[0]->listSize() == 0)
-        throw Error(format("'tail' called on an empty list, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw Error({
+            .hint = hintfmt("'tail' called on an empty list"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
+
     state.mkList(v, args[0]->listSize() - 1);
     for (unsigned int n = 0; n < v.listSize(); ++n)
         v.listElems()[n] = args[0]->listElems()[n + 1];
@@ -1522,9 +1637,9 @@ static void prim_foldlStrict(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
             vCur = n == args[2]->listSize() - 1 ? &v : state.allocValue();
             state.callFunction(vTmp, *args[2]->listElems()[n], *vCur, pos);
         }
-        state.forceValue(v);
+        state.forceValue(v, pos);
     } else {
-        state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+        state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
         v = *args[1];
     }
 }
@@ -1566,7 +1681,10 @@ static void prim_genList(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Val
     auto len = state.forceInt(*args[1], pos);
 
     if (len < 0)
-        throw EvalError(format("cannot create list of size %1%, at %2%") % len % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("cannot create list of size %1%", len),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     state.mkList(v, len);
 
@@ -1589,7 +1707,7 @@ static void prim_sort(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
     auto len = args[1]->listSize();
     state.mkList(v, len);
     for (unsigned int n = 0; n < len; ++n) {
-        state.forceValue(*args[1]->listElems()[n]);
+        state.forceValue(*args[1]->listElems()[n], pos);
         v.listElems()[n] = args[1]->listElems()[n];
     }
 
@@ -1624,7 +1742,7 @@ static void prim_partition(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, V
 
     for (unsigned int n = 0; n < len; ++n) {
         auto vElem = args[1]->listElems()[n];
-        state.forceValue(*vElem);
+        state.forceValue(*vElem, pos);
         Value res;
         state.callFunction(*args[0], *vElem, res, pos);
         if (state.forceBool(res, pos))
@@ -1724,7 +1842,11 @@ static void prim_div(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value &
     state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
 
     NixFloat f2 = state.forceFloat(*args[1], pos);
-    if (f2 == 0) throw EvalError(format("division by zero, at %1%") % pos);
+    if (f2 == 0)
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("division by zero"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     if (args[0]->type == tFloat || args[1]->type == tFloat) {
         mkFloat(v, state.forceFloat(*args[0], pos) / state.forceFloat(*args[1], pos));
@@ -1733,7 +1855,11 @@ static void prim_div(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value &
         NixInt i2 = state.forceInt(*args[1], pos);
         /* Avoid division overflow as it might raise SIGFPE. */
         if (i1 == std::numeric_limits<NixInt>::min() && i2 == -1)
-            throw EvalError(format("overflow in integer division, at %1%") % pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("overflow in integer division"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
+
         mkInt(v, i1 / i2);
     }
 }
@@ -1755,8 +1881,8 @@ static void prim_bitXor(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Valu
 
 static void prim_lessThan(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
-    state.forceValue(*args[1]);
+    state.forceValue(*args[0], pos);
+    state.forceValue(*args[1], pos);
     CompareValues comp;
     mkBool(v, comp(args[0], args[1]));
 }
@@ -1789,7 +1915,11 @@ static void prim_substring(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, V
     PathSet context;
     string s = state.coerceToString(pos, *args[2], context);
 
-    if (start < 0) throw EvalError(format("negative start position in 'substring', at %1%") % pos);
+    if (start < 0)
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("negative start position in 'substring'"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     mkString(v, (unsigned int) start >= s.size() ? "" : string(s, start, len), context);
 }
@@ -1809,7 +1939,10 @@ static void prim_hashString(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args,
     string type = state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos);
     HashType ht = parseHashType(type);
     if (ht == htUnknown)
-      throw Error(format("unknown hash type '%1%', at %2%") % type % pos);
+        throw Error({
+            .hint = hintfmt("unknown hash type '%1%'", type),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     PathSet context; // discarded
     string s = state.forceString(*args[1], context, pos);
@@ -1851,10 +1984,16 @@ void prim_match(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 
     } catch (std::regex_error &e) {
         if (e.code() == std::regex_constants::error_space) {
-          // limit is _GLIBCXX_REGEX_STATE_LIMIT for libstdc++
-          throw EvalError("memory limit exceeded by regular expression '%s', at %s", re, pos);
+            // limit is _GLIBCXX_REGEX_STATE_LIMIT for libstdc++
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("memory limit exceeded by regular expression '%s'", re),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         } else {
-          throw EvalError("invalid regular expression '%s', at %s", re, pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("invalid regular expression '%s'", re),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         }
     }
 }
@@ -1918,10 +2057,16 @@ static void prim_split(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value
 
     } catch (std::regex_error &e) {
         if (e.code() == std::regex_constants::error_space) {
-          // limit is _GLIBCXX_REGEX_STATE_LIMIT for libstdc++
-          throw EvalError("memory limit exceeded by regular expression '%s', at %s", re, pos);
+            // limit is _GLIBCXX_REGEX_STATE_LIMIT for libstdc++
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("memory limit exceeded by regular expression '%s'", re),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         } else {
-          throw EvalError("invalid regular expression '%s', at %s", re, pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("invalid regular expression '%s'", re),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
         }
     }
 }
@@ -1952,7 +2097,10 @@ static void prim_replaceStrings(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
     state.forceList(*args[0], pos);
     state.forceList(*args[1], pos);
     if (args[0]->listSize() != args[1]->listSize())
-        throw EvalError(format("'from' and 'to' arguments to 'replaceStrings' have different lengths, at %1%") % pos);
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("'from' and 'to' arguments to 'replaceStrings' have different lengths"),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
 
     vector<string> from;
     from.reserve(args[0]->listSize());
@@ -2048,68 +2196,6 @@ static void prim_splitVersion(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args
 
 
 /*************************************************************
- * Networking
- *************************************************************/
-
-
-void fetch(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v,
-    const string & who, bool unpack, const std::string & defaultName)
-{
-    CachedDownloadRequest request("");
-    request.unpack = unpack;
-    request.name = defaultName;
-
-    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
-
-    if (args[0]->type == tAttrs) {
-
-        state.forceAttrs(*args[0], pos);
-
-        for (auto & attr : *args[0]->attrs) {
-            string n(attr.name);
-            if (n == "url")
-                request.uri = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
-            else if (n == "sha256")
-                request.expectedHash = Hash(state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos), htSHA256);
-            else if (n == "name")
-                request.name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
-            else
-                throw EvalError(format("unsupported argument '%1%' to '%2%', at %3%") % attr.name % who % attr.pos);
-        }
-
-        if (request.uri.empty())
-            throw EvalError(format("'url' argument required, at %1%") % pos);
-
-    } else
-        request.uri = state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos);
-
-    state.checkURI(request.uri);
-
-    if (evalSettings.pureEval && !request.expectedHash)
-        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, '%s' requires a 'sha256' argument", who);
-
-    auto res = getDownloader()->downloadCached(state.store, request);
-
-    if (state.allowedPaths)
-        state.allowedPaths->insert(res.path);
-
-    mkString(v, res.storePath, PathSet({res.storePath}));
-}
-
-
-static void prim_fetchurl(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
-{
-    fetch(state, pos, args, v, "fetchurl", false, "");
-}
-
-
-static void prim_fetchTarball(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
-{
-    fetch(state, pos, args, v, "fetchTarball", true, "source");
-}
-
-
-/*************************************************************
  * Primop registration
  *************************************************************/
 
@@ -2291,10 +2377,6 @@ void EvalState::createBaseEnv()
     addPrimOp("derivationStrict", 1, prim_derivationStrict);
     addPrimOp("placeholder", 1, prim_placeholder);
 
-    // Networking
-    addPrimOp("__fetchurl", 1, prim_fetchurl);
-    addPrimOp("fetchTarball", 1, prim_fetchTarball);
-
     /* Add a wrapper around the derivation primop that computes the
        `drvPath' and `outPath' attributes lazily. */
     string path = canonPath(settings.nixDataDir + "/nix/corepkgs/derivation.nix", true);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.hh b/src/libexpr/primops.hh
index c790b30f6..05d0792ef 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.hh
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ struct RegisterPrimOp
    them. */
 /* Load a ValueInitializer from a DSO and return whatever it initializes */
 void prim_importNative(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v);
+
 /* Execute a program and parse its output */
 void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v);
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops/context.cc b/src/libexpr/primops/context.cc
index 94fa0158c..efa2e9576 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops/context.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops/context.cc
@@ -146,7 +146,10 @@ static void prim_appendContext(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * arg
     auto sAllOutputs = state.symbols.create("allOutputs");
     for (auto & i : *args[1]->attrs) {
         if (!state.store->isStorePath(i.name))
-            throw EvalError("Context key '%s' is not a store path, at %s", i.name, i.pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("Context key '%s' is not a store path", i.name),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *i.pos }
+            });
         if (!settings.readOnlyMode)
             state.store->ensurePath(state.store->parseStorePath(i.name));
         state.forceAttrs(*i.value, *i.pos);
@@ -160,7 +163,10 @@ static void prim_appendContext(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * arg
         if (iter != i.value->attrs->end()) {
             if (state.forceBool(*iter->value, *iter->pos)) {
                 if (!isDerivation(i.name)) {
-                    throw EvalError("Tried to add all-outputs context of %s, which is not a derivation, to a string, at %s", i.name, i.pos);
+                    throw EvalError({
+                        .hint = hintfmt("Tried to add all-outputs context of %s, which is not a derivation, to a string", i.name),
+                        .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *i.pos }
+                    });
                 }
                 context.insert("=" + string(i.name));
             }
@@ -170,7 +176,10 @@ static void prim_appendContext(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * arg
         if (iter != i.value->attrs->end()) {
             state.forceList(*iter->value, *iter->pos);
             if (iter->value->listSize() && !isDerivation(i.name)) {
-                throw EvalError("Tried to add derivation output context of %s, which is not a derivation, to a string, at %s", i.name, i.pos);
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("Tried to add derivation output context of %s, which is not a derivation, to a string", i.name),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *i.pos }
+                });
             }
             for (unsigned int n = 0; n < iter->value->listSize(); ++n) {
                 auto name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*iter->value->listElems()[n], *iter->pos);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops/fetchGit.cc b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchGit.cc
index 4aee1073e..dd7229a3d 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops/fetchGit.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchGit.cc
@@ -1,203 +1,19 @@
 #include "primops.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "pathlocks.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
-#include "tarfile.hh"
-
-#include <sys/time.h>
-
-#include <regex>
-
-#include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
-
-using namespace std::string_literals;
+#include "fetchers.hh"
+#include "url.hh"
 
 namespace nix {
 
-struct GitInfo
-{
-    Path storePath;
-    std::string rev;
-    std::string shortRev;
-    uint64_t revCount = 0;
-};
-
-std::regex revRegex("^[0-9a-fA-F]{40}$");
-
-GitInfo exportGit(ref<Store> store, const std::string & uri,
-    std::optional<std::string> ref, std::string rev,
-    const std::string & name)
-{
-    if (evalSettings.pureEval && rev == "")
-        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, 'fetchGit' requires a Git revision");
-
-    if (!ref && rev == "" && hasPrefix(uri, "/") && pathExists(uri + "/.git")) {
-
-        bool clean = true;
-
-        try {
-            runProgram("git", true, { "-C", uri, "diff-index", "--quiet", "HEAD", "--" });
-        } catch (ExecError & e) {
-            if (!WIFEXITED(e.status) || WEXITSTATUS(e.status) != 1) throw;
-            clean = false;
-        }
-
-        if (!clean) {
-
-            /* This is an unclean working tree. So copy all tracked files. */
-            GitInfo gitInfo;
-            gitInfo.rev = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000";
-            gitInfo.shortRev = std::string(gitInfo.rev, 0, 7);
-
-            auto files = tokenizeString<std::set<std::string>>(
-                runProgram("git", true, { "-C", uri, "ls-files", "-z" }), "\0"s);
-
-            PathFilter filter = [&](const Path & p) -> bool {
-                assert(hasPrefix(p, uri));
-                std::string file(p, uri.size() + 1);
-
-                auto st = lstat(p);
-
-                if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
-                    auto prefix = file + "/";
-                    auto i = files.lower_bound(prefix);
-                    return i != files.end() && hasPrefix(*i, prefix);
-                }
-
-                return files.count(file);
-            };
-
-            gitInfo.storePath = store->printStorePath(store->addToStore("source", uri, true, htSHA256, filter));
-
-            return gitInfo;
-        }
-
-        // clean working tree, but no ref or rev specified.  Use 'HEAD'.
-        rev = chomp(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", uri, "rev-parse", "HEAD" }));
-        ref = "HEAD"s;
-    }
-
-    if (!ref) ref = "HEAD"s;
-
-    if (rev != "" && !std::regex_match(rev, revRegex))
-        throw Error("invalid Git revision '%s'", rev);
-
-    deletePath(getCacheDir() + "/nix/git");
-
-    Path cacheDir = getCacheDir() + "/nix/gitv2/" + hashString(htSHA256, uri).to_string(Base32, false);
-
-    if (!pathExists(cacheDir)) {
-        createDirs(dirOf(cacheDir));
-        runProgram("git", true, { "init", "--bare", cacheDir });
-    }
-
-    Path localRefFile;
-    if (ref->compare(0, 5, "refs/") == 0)
-        localRefFile = cacheDir + "/" + *ref;
-    else
-        localRefFile = cacheDir + "/refs/heads/" + *ref;
-
-    bool doFetch;
-    time_t now = time(0);
-    /* If a rev was specified, we need to fetch if it's not in the
-       repo. */
-    if (rev != "") {
-        try {
-            runProgram("git", true, { "-C", cacheDir, "cat-file", "-e", rev });
-            doFetch = false;
-        } catch (ExecError & e) {
-            if (WIFEXITED(e.status)) {
-                doFetch = true;
-            } else {
-                throw;
-            }
-        }
-    } else {
-        /* If the local ref is older than ‘tarball-ttl’ seconds, do a
-           git fetch to update the local ref to the remote ref. */
-        struct stat st;
-        doFetch = stat(localRefFile.c_str(), &st) != 0 ||
-            (uint64_t) st.st_mtime + settings.tarballTtl <= (uint64_t) now;
-    }
-    if (doFetch)
-    {
-        Activity act(*logger, lvlTalkative, actUnknown, fmt("fetching Git repository '%s'", uri));
-
-        // FIXME: git stderr messes up our progress indicator, so
-        // we're using --quiet for now. Should process its stderr.
-        runProgram("git", true, { "-C", cacheDir, "fetch", "--quiet", "--force", "--", uri, fmt("%s:%s", *ref, *ref) });
-
-        struct timeval times[2];
-        times[0].tv_sec = now;
-        times[0].tv_usec = 0;
-        times[1].tv_sec = now;
-        times[1].tv_usec = 0;
-
-        utimes(localRefFile.c_str(), times);
-    }
-
-    // FIXME: check whether rev is an ancestor of ref.
-    GitInfo gitInfo;
-    gitInfo.rev = rev != "" ? rev : chomp(readFile(localRefFile));
-    gitInfo.shortRev = std::string(gitInfo.rev, 0, 7);
-
-    printTalkative("using revision %s of repo '%s'", gitInfo.rev, uri);
-
-    std::string storeLinkName = hashString(htSHA512, name + std::string("\0"s) + gitInfo.rev).to_string(Base32, false);
-    Path storeLink = cacheDir + "/" + storeLinkName + ".link";
-    PathLocks storeLinkLock({storeLink}, fmt("waiting for lock on '%1%'...", storeLink)); // FIXME: broken
-
-    try {
-        auto json = nlohmann::json::parse(readFile(storeLink));
-
-        assert(json["name"] == name && json["rev"] == gitInfo.rev);
-
-        gitInfo.storePath = json["storePath"];
-
-        if (store->isValidPath(store->parseStorePath(gitInfo.storePath))) {
-            gitInfo.revCount = json["revCount"];
-            return gitInfo;
-        }
-
-    } catch (SysError & e) {
-        if (e.errNo != ENOENT) throw;
-    }
-
-    auto source = sinkToSource([&](Sink & sink) {
-        RunOptions gitOptions("git", { "-C", cacheDir, "archive", gitInfo.rev });
-        gitOptions.standardOut = &sink;
-        runProgram2(gitOptions);
-    });
-
-    Path tmpDir = createTempDir();
-    AutoDelete delTmpDir(tmpDir, true);
-
-    unpackTarfile(*source, tmpDir);
-
-    gitInfo.storePath = store->printStorePath(store->addToStore(name, tmpDir));
-
-    gitInfo.revCount = std::stoull(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", cacheDir, "rev-list", "--count", gitInfo.rev }));
-
-    nlohmann::json json;
-    json["storePath"] = gitInfo.storePath;
-    json["uri"] = uri;
-    json["name"] = name;
-    json["rev"] = gitInfo.rev;
-    json["revCount"] = gitInfo.revCount;
-
-    writeFile(storeLink, json.dump());
-
-    return gitInfo;
-}
-
 static void prim_fetchGit(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
     std::string url;
     std::optional<std::string> ref;
-    std::string rev;
+    std::optional<Hash> rev;
     std::string name = "source";
+    bool fetchSubmodules = false;
     PathSet context;
 
     state.forceValue(*args[0]);
@@ -213,15 +29,23 @@ static void prim_fetchGit(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
             else if (n == "ref")
                 ref = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
             else if (n == "rev")
-                rev = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+                rev = Hash(state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos), htSHA1);
             else if (n == "name")
                 name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+            else if (n == "submodules")
+                fetchSubmodules = state.forceBool(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
             else
-                throw EvalError("unsupported argument '%s' to 'fetchGit', at %s", attr.name, *attr.pos);
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("unsupported argument '%s' to 'fetchGit'", attr.name),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *attr.pos }
+                });
         }
 
         if (url.empty())
-            throw EvalError(format("'url' argument required, at %1%") % pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("'url' argument required"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
 
     } else
         url = state.coerceToString(pos, *args[0], context, false, false);
@@ -230,17 +54,36 @@ static void prim_fetchGit(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
     // whitelist. Ah well.
     state.checkURI(url);
 
-    auto gitInfo = exportGit(state.store, url, ref, rev, name);
+    if (evalSettings.pureEval && !rev)
+        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, 'fetchGit' requires a Git revision");
+
+    fetchers::Attrs attrs;
+    attrs.insert_or_assign("type", "git");
+    attrs.insert_or_assign("url", url.find("://") != std::string::npos ? url : "file://" + url);
+    if (ref) attrs.insert_or_assign("ref", *ref);
+    if (rev) attrs.insert_or_assign("rev", rev->gitRev());
+    if (fetchSubmodules) attrs.insert_or_assign("submodules", true);
+    auto input = fetchers::inputFromAttrs(attrs);
+
+    // FIXME: use name?
+    auto [tree, input2] = input->fetchTree(state.store);
 
     state.mkAttrs(v, 8);
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.sOutPath), gitInfo.storePath, PathSet({gitInfo.storePath}));
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("rev")), gitInfo.rev);
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("shortRev")), gitInfo.shortRev);
-    mkInt(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("revCount")), gitInfo.revCount);
+    auto storePath = state.store->printStorePath(tree.storePath);
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.sOutPath), storePath, PathSet({storePath}));
+    // Backward compatibility: set 'rev' to
+    // 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 for a dirty tree.
+    auto rev2 = input2->getRev().value_or(Hash(htSHA1));
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("rev")), rev2.gitRev());
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("shortRev")), rev2.gitShortRev());
+    // Backward compatibility: set 'revCount' to 0 for a dirty tree.
+    mkInt(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("revCount")),
+        tree.info.revCount.value_or(0));
+    mkBool(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("submodules")), fetchSubmodules);
     v.attrs->sort();
 
     if (state.allowedPaths)
-        state.allowedPaths->insert(state.store->toRealPath(gitInfo.storePath));
+        state.allowedPaths->insert(tree.actualPath);
 }
 
 static RegisterPrimOp r("fetchGit", 1, prim_fetchGit);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops/fetchMercurial.cc b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchMercurial.cc
index db274fa4f..9bace8f89 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops/fetchMercurial.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchMercurial.cc
@@ -1,174 +1,18 @@
 #include "primops.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
-#include "download.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
-#include "pathlocks.hh"
-
-#include <sys/time.h>
+#include "fetchers.hh"
+#include "url.hh"
 
 #include <regex>
 
-#include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
-
-using namespace std::string_literals;
-
 namespace nix {
 
-struct HgInfo
-{
-    Path storePath;
-    std::string branch;
-    std::string rev;
-    uint64_t revCount = 0;
-};
-
-std::regex commitHashRegex("^[0-9a-fA-F]{40}$");
-
-HgInfo exportMercurial(ref<Store> store, const std::string & uri,
-    std::string rev, const std::string & name)
-{
-    if (evalSettings.pureEval && rev == "")
-        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, 'fetchMercurial' requires a Mercurial revision");
-
-    if (rev == "" && hasPrefix(uri, "/") && pathExists(uri + "/.hg")) {
-
-        bool clean = runProgram("hg", true, { "status", "-R", uri, "--modified", "--added", "--removed" }) == "";
-
-        if (!clean) {
-
-            /* This is an unclean working tree. So copy all tracked
-               files. */
-
-            printTalkative("copying unclean Mercurial working tree '%s'", uri);
-
-            HgInfo hgInfo;
-            hgInfo.rev = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000";
-            hgInfo.branch = chomp(runProgram("hg", true, { "branch", "-R", uri }));
-
-            auto files = tokenizeString<std::set<std::string>>(
-                runProgram("hg", true, { "status", "-R", uri, "--clean", "--modified", "--added", "--no-status", "--print0" }), "\0"s);
-
-            PathFilter filter = [&](const Path & p) -> bool {
-                assert(hasPrefix(p, uri));
-                std::string file(p, uri.size() + 1);
-
-                auto st = lstat(p);
-
-                if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
-                    auto prefix = file + "/";
-                    auto i = files.lower_bound(prefix);
-                    return i != files.end() && hasPrefix(*i, prefix);
-                }
-
-                return files.count(file);
-            };
-
-            hgInfo.storePath = store->printStorePath(store->addToStore("source", uri, true, htSHA256, filter));
-
-            return hgInfo;
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (rev == "") rev = "default";
-
-    Path cacheDir = fmt("%s/nix/hg/%s", getCacheDir(), hashString(htSHA256, uri).to_string(Base32, false));
-
-    Path stampFile = fmt("%s/.hg/%s.stamp", cacheDir, hashString(htSHA512, rev).to_string(Base32, false));
-
-    /* If we haven't pulled this repo less than ‘tarball-ttl’ seconds,
-       do so now. */
-    time_t now = time(0);
-    struct stat st;
-    if (stat(stampFile.c_str(), &st) != 0 ||
-        (uint64_t) st.st_mtime + settings.tarballTtl <= (uint64_t) now)
-    {
-        /* Except that if this is a commit hash that we already have,
-           we don't have to pull again. */
-        if (!(std::regex_match(rev, commitHashRegex)
-                && pathExists(cacheDir)
-                && runProgram(
-                    RunOptions("hg", { "log", "-R", cacheDir, "-r", rev, "--template", "1" })
-                    .killStderr(true)).second == "1"))
-        {
-            Activity act(*logger, lvlTalkative, actUnknown, fmt("fetching Mercurial repository '%s'", uri));
-
-            if (pathExists(cacheDir)) {
-                try {
-                    runProgram("hg", true, { "pull", "-R", cacheDir, "--", uri });
-                }
-                catch (ExecError & e) {
-                    string transJournal = cacheDir + "/.hg/store/journal";
-                    /* hg throws "abandoned transaction" error only if this file exists */
-                    if (pathExists(transJournal)) {
-                        runProgram("hg", true, { "recover", "-R", cacheDir });
-                        runProgram("hg", true, { "pull", "-R", cacheDir, "--", uri });
-                    } else {
-                        throw ExecError(e.status, fmt("'hg pull' %s", statusToString(e.status)));
-                    }
-                }
-            } else {
-                createDirs(dirOf(cacheDir));
-                runProgram("hg", true, { "clone", "--noupdate", "--", uri, cacheDir });
-            }
-        }
-
-        writeFile(stampFile, "");
-    }
-
-    auto tokens = tokenizeString<std::vector<std::string>>(
-        runProgram("hg", true, { "log", "-R", cacheDir, "-r", rev, "--template", "{node} {rev} {branch}" }));
-    assert(tokens.size() == 3);
-
-    HgInfo hgInfo;
-    hgInfo.rev = tokens[0];
-    hgInfo.revCount = std::stoull(tokens[1]);
-    hgInfo.branch = tokens[2];
-
-    std::string storeLinkName = hashString(htSHA512, name + std::string("\0"s) + hgInfo.rev).to_string(Base32, false);
-    Path storeLink = fmt("%s/.hg/%s.link", cacheDir, storeLinkName);
-
-    try {
-        auto json = nlohmann::json::parse(readFile(storeLink));
-
-        assert(json["name"] == name && json["rev"] == hgInfo.rev);
-
-        hgInfo.storePath = json["storePath"];
-
-        if (store->isValidPath(store->parseStorePath(hgInfo.storePath))) {
-            printTalkative("using cached Mercurial store path '%s'", hgInfo.storePath);
-            return hgInfo;
-        }
-
-    } catch (SysError & e) {
-        if (e.errNo != ENOENT) throw;
-    }
-
-    Path tmpDir = createTempDir();
-    AutoDelete delTmpDir(tmpDir, true);
-
-    runProgram("hg", true, { "archive", "-R", cacheDir, "-r", rev, tmpDir });
-
-    deletePath(tmpDir + "/.hg_archival.txt");
-
-    hgInfo.storePath = store->printStorePath(store->addToStore(name, tmpDir));
-
-    nlohmann::json json;
-    json["storePath"] = hgInfo.storePath;
-    json["uri"] = uri;
-    json["name"] = name;
-    json["branch"] = hgInfo.branch;
-    json["rev"] = hgInfo.rev;
-    json["revCount"] = hgInfo.revCount;
-
-    writeFile(storeLink, json.dump());
-
-    return hgInfo;
-}
-
 static void prim_fetchMercurial(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
 {
     std::string url;
-    std::string rev;
+    std::optional<Hash> rev;
+    std::optional<std::string> ref;
     std::string name = "source";
     PathSet context;
 
@@ -182,16 +26,29 @@ static void prim_fetchMercurial(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
             string n(attr.name);
             if (n == "url")
                 url = state.coerceToString(*attr.pos, *attr.value, context, false, false);
-            else if (n == "rev")
-                rev = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+            else if (n == "rev") {
+                // Ugly: unlike fetchGit, here the "rev" attribute can
+                // be both a revision or a branch/tag name.
+                auto value = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+                if (std::regex_match(value, revRegex))
+                    rev = Hash(value, htSHA1);
+                else
+                    ref = value;
+            }
             else if (n == "name")
                 name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
             else
-                throw EvalError("unsupported argument '%s' to 'fetchMercurial', at %s", attr.name, *attr.pos);
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("unsupported argument '%s' to 'fetchMercurial'", attr.name),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *attr.pos }
+                });
         }
 
         if (url.empty())
-            throw EvalError(format("'url' argument required, at %1%") % pos);
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("'url' argument required"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
 
     } else
         url = state.coerceToString(pos, *args[0], context, false, false);
@@ -200,18 +57,35 @@ static void prim_fetchMercurial(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * ar
     // whitelist. Ah well.
     state.checkURI(url);
 
-    auto hgInfo = exportMercurial(state.store, url, rev, name);
+    if (evalSettings.pureEval && !rev)
+        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, 'fetchMercurial' requires a Mercurial revision");
+
+    fetchers::Attrs attrs;
+    attrs.insert_or_assign("type", "hg");
+    attrs.insert_or_assign("url", url.find("://") != std::string::npos ? url : "file://" + url);
+    if (ref) attrs.insert_or_assign("ref", *ref);
+    if (rev) attrs.insert_or_assign("rev", rev->gitRev());
+    auto input = fetchers::inputFromAttrs(attrs);
+
+    // FIXME: use name
+    auto [tree, input2] = input->fetchTree(state.store);
 
     state.mkAttrs(v, 8);
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.sOutPath), hgInfo.storePath, PathSet({hgInfo.storePath}));
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("branch")), hgInfo.branch);
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("rev")), hgInfo.rev);
-    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("shortRev")), std::string(hgInfo.rev, 0, 12));
-    mkInt(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("revCount")), hgInfo.revCount);
+    auto storePath = state.store->printStorePath(tree.storePath);
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.sOutPath), storePath, PathSet({storePath}));
+    if (input2->getRef())
+        mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("branch")), *input2->getRef());
+    // Backward compatibility: set 'rev' to
+    // 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 for a dirty tree.
+    auto rev2 = input2->getRev().value_or(Hash(htSHA1));
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("rev")), rev2.gitRev());
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("shortRev")), std::string(rev2.gitRev(), 0, 12));
+    if (tree.info.revCount)
+        mkInt(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("revCount")), *tree.info.revCount);
     v.attrs->sort();
 
     if (state.allowedPaths)
-        state.allowedPaths->insert(state.store->toRealPath(hgInfo.storePath));
+        state.allowedPaths->insert(tree.actualPath);
 }
 
 static RegisterPrimOp r("fetchMercurial", 1, prim_fetchMercurial);
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops/fetchTree.cc b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchTree.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9be93710a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops/fetchTree.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+#include "primops.hh"
+#include "eval-inline.hh"
+#include "store-api.hh"
+#include "fetchers.hh"
+#include "filetransfer.hh"
+
+#include <ctime>
+#include <iomanip>
+
+namespace nix {
+
+void emitTreeAttrs(
+    EvalState & state,
+    const fetchers::Tree & tree,
+    std::shared_ptr<const fetchers::Input> input,
+    Value & v)
+{
+    state.mkAttrs(v, 8);
+
+    auto storePath = state.store->printStorePath(tree.storePath);
+
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.sOutPath), storePath, PathSet({storePath}));
+
+    assert(tree.info.narHash);
+    mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("narHash")),
+        tree.info.narHash.to_string(SRI, true));
+
+    if (input->getRev()) {
+        mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("rev")), input->getRev()->gitRev());
+        mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("shortRev")), input->getRev()->gitShortRev());
+    }
+
+    if (tree.info.revCount)
+        mkInt(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("revCount")), *tree.info.revCount);
+
+    if (tree.info.lastModified)
+        mkString(*state.allocAttr(v, state.symbols.create("lastModified")),
+            fmt("%s", std::put_time(std::gmtime(&*tree.info.lastModified), "%Y%m%d%H%M%S")));
+
+    v.attrs->sort();
+}
+
+static void prim_fetchTree(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
+{
+    settings.requireExperimentalFeature("flakes");
+
+    std::shared_ptr<const fetchers::Input> input;
+    PathSet context;
+
+    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+
+    if (args[0]->type == tAttrs) {
+        state.forceAttrs(*args[0], pos);
+
+        fetchers::Attrs attrs;
+
+        for (auto & attr : *args[0]->attrs) {
+            state.forceValue(*attr.value);
+            if (attr.value->type == tString)
+                attrs.emplace(attr.name, attr.value->string.s);
+            else if (attr.value->type == tBool)
+                attrs.emplace(attr.name, attr.value->boolean);
+            else
+                throw TypeError("fetchTree argument '%s' is %s while a string or Boolean is expected",
+                    attr.name, showType(*attr.value));
+        }
+
+        if (!attrs.count("type"))
+            throw Error({
+                .hint = hintfmt("attribute 'type' is missing in call to 'fetchTree'"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
+
+        input = fetchers::inputFromAttrs(attrs);
+    } else
+        input = fetchers::inputFromURL(state.coerceToString(pos, *args[0], context, false, false));
+
+    if (evalSettings.pureEval && !input->isImmutable())
+        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, 'fetchTree' requires an immutable input");
+
+    // FIXME: use fetchOrSubstituteTree
+    auto [tree, input2] = input->fetchTree(state.store);
+
+    if (state.allowedPaths)
+        state.allowedPaths->insert(tree.actualPath);
+
+    emitTreeAttrs(state, tree, input2, v);
+}
+
+static RegisterPrimOp r("fetchTree", 1, prim_fetchTree);
+
+static void fetch(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v,
+    const string & who, bool unpack, std::string name)
+{
+    std::optional<std::string> url;
+    std::optional<Hash> expectedHash;
+
+    state.forceValue(*args[0]);
+
+    if (args[0]->type == tAttrs) {
+
+        state.forceAttrs(*args[0], pos);
+
+        for (auto & attr : *args[0]->attrs) {
+            string n(attr.name);
+            if (n == "url")
+                url = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+            else if (n == "sha256")
+                expectedHash = newHashAllowEmpty(state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos), htSHA256);
+            else if (n == "name")
+                name = state.forceStringNoCtx(*attr.value, *attr.pos);
+            else
+                throw EvalError({
+                    .hint = hintfmt("unsupported argument '%s' to '%s'", attr.name, who),
+                    .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = *attr.pos }
+                });
+            }
+
+        if (!url)
+            throw EvalError({
+                .hint = hintfmt("'url' argument required"),
+                .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+            });
+    } else
+        url = state.forceStringNoCtx(*args[0], pos);
+
+    url = resolveUri(*url);
+
+    state.checkURI(*url);
+
+    if (name == "")
+        name = baseNameOf(*url);
+
+    if (evalSettings.pureEval && !expectedHash)
+        throw Error("in pure evaluation mode, '%s' requires a 'sha256' argument", who);
+
+    auto storePath =
+        unpack
+        ? fetchers::downloadTarball(state.store, *url, name, (bool) expectedHash).storePath
+        : fetchers::downloadFile(state.store, *url, name, (bool) expectedHash).storePath;
+
+    auto path = state.store->toRealPath(storePath);
+
+    if (expectedHash) {
+        auto hash = unpack
+            ? state.store->queryPathInfo(storePath)->narHash
+            : hashFile(htSHA256, path);
+        if (hash != *expectedHash)
+            throw Error((unsigned int) 102, "hash mismatch in file downloaded from '%s':\n  wanted: %s\n  got:    %s",
+                *url, expectedHash->to_string(Base32, true), hash.to_string(Base32, true));
+    }
+
+    if (state.allowedPaths)
+        state.allowedPaths->insert(path);
+
+    mkString(v, path, PathSet({path}));
+}
+
+static void prim_fetchurl(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
+{
+    fetch(state, pos, args, v, "fetchurl", false, "");
+}
+
+static void prim_fetchTarball(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
+{
+    fetch(state, pos, args, v, "fetchTarball", true, "source");
+}
+
+static RegisterPrimOp r2("__fetchurl", 1, prim_fetchurl);
+static RegisterPrimOp r3("fetchTarball", 1, prim_fetchTarball);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops/fromTOML.cc b/src/libexpr/primops/fromTOML.cc
index a84e569e9..7615d1379 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops/fromTOML.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops/fromTOML.cc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "primops.hh"
 #include "eval-inline.hh"
 
-#include "cpptoml/cpptoml.h"
+#include "../../cpptoml/cpptoml.h"
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ static void prim_fromTOML(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Va
     try {
         visit(v, parser(tomlStream).parse());
     } catch (std::runtime_error & e) {
-        throw EvalError("while parsing a TOML string at %s: %s", pos, e.what());
+        throw EvalError({
+            .hint = hintfmt("while parsing a TOML string: %s", e.what()),
+            .nixCode = NixCode { .errPos = pos }
+        });
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc b/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
index 5fe8570ad..6ec8315ba 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/value-to-json.cc
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ void printValueAsJSON(EvalState & state, bool strict,
             break;
 
         default:
-            throw TypeError(format("cannot convert %1% to JSON") % showType(v));
+            throw TypeError("cannot convert %1% to JSON", showType(v));
     }
 }
 
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ void printValueAsJSON(EvalState & state, bool strict,
 void ExternalValueBase::printValueAsJSON(EvalState & state, bool strict,
     JSONPlaceholder & out, PathSet & context) const
 {
-    throw TypeError(format("cannot convert %1% to JSON") % showType());
+    throw TypeError("cannot convert %1% to JSON", showType());
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/value.hh b/src/libexpr/value.hh
index 689373873..71025824e 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/value.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/value.hh
@@ -253,12 +253,17 @@ void mkPath(Value & v, const char * s);
 
 
 #if HAVE_BOEHMGC
-typedef std::vector<Value *, gc_allocator<Value *> > ValueVector;
-typedef std::map<Symbol, Value *, std::less<Symbol>, gc_allocator<std::pair<const Symbol, Value *> > > ValueMap;
+typedef std::vector<Value *, traceable_allocator<Value *> > ValueVector;
+typedef std::map<Symbol, Value *, std::less<Symbol>, traceable_allocator<std::pair<const Symbol, Value *> > > ValueMap;
 #else
 typedef std::vector<Value *> ValueVector;
 typedef std::map<Symbol, Value *> ValueMap;
 #endif
 
 
+/* A value allocated in traceable memory. */
+typedef std::shared_ptr<Value *> RootValue;
+
+RootValue allocRootValue(Value * v);
+
 }