PetarKirov/dlang.nix

This projects provides Nix derivations for building reproducible and declarative development environments for the D programming language.

Support Matrix

package	version range	platforms
`dmd-binary`	2.079.1 - 2.090.1, 2.098.0	✅ Linux x86_64, ✅ macOS x86_64
`dmd`	2.098.1, 2.100.2, 2.102.2	✅ Linux x86_64, ✅ macOS x86_64
`ldc-binary`	1.19.0, 1.25.0, 1.28.0, 1.32.1, 1.34.0	✅ Linux x86_64, ✅ macOS x86_64
`ldc`	1.30.0	✅ Linux x86_64, ❌ macOS x86_64
`dub`	1.30.0	✅ Linux x86_64, ✅ macOS x86_64

Usage

Nix Flakes

While Nix Flakes are still experimental, they are the recommended way to use this project, as flake.lock files ensure that you will be able to reproduce the exact same build in the future. Furthermore, Flakes allow you to benefit from the our binary cache - dlang-community.cachix.org, which is hosted by Cachix.

View available packages

nix flake show github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix

Enter a shell with a particular version of DMD and DUB installed

➤ nix shell \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dmd-2_102_2 \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dub-1_30_0

➤ dmd --version
DMD64 D Compiler v2.102.2

Copyright (C) 1999-2023 by The D Language Foundation, All Rights Reserved written by Walter Bright

➤ dub --version
DUB version 1.30.0, built on Jan  1 1980

Add to your local Nix flakes registry

➤ nix registry add d github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix

➤ nix shell d#dmd-2_102_2 d#dub-1_30_0

➤ dmd --version
DMD64 D Compiler v2.102.2

Copyright (C) 1999-2023 by The D Language Foundation, All Rights Reserved written by Walter Bright

➤ dub --version
DUB version 1.30.0, built on Jan  1 1980

Install packages to your Nix profile

➤ nix profile install d#dmd d#dub d#ldc

Build multiple versions of DMD and DUB in parallel

➤ nix build -L --json \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dmd-2_098_1 \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dmd-2_100_2 \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dmd-2_102_2 \
  github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix#dub-1_30_0

Or if you're inside this repo:

➤ nix build -L --json \
  .#dmd-2_098_1 \
  .#dmd-2_100_2 \
  .#dmd-2_102_2 \
  .#dub-1_30_0

Creating declarative & reproducible development environment

Add the following flake.nix to your project:

{
  inputs = {
    dlang-nix.url = "github:PetarKirov/dlang-nix";
    nixpkgs.follows = "dlang-nix/nixpkgs";
    flake-parts = {
      url = "github:hercules-ci/flake-parts";
      inputs.nixpkgs-lib.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
  };

  outputs = inputs @ {flake-parts, ...}:
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake {inherit inputs;} {
      systems = ["x86_64-linux" "x86_64-darwin" "aarch64-darwin"];
      perSystem = { inputs', pkgs, ... }: {
        devShells.default = pkgs.mkShell {
          packages = [
            inputs'.dlang-nix.packages.ldc
            inputs'.dlang-nix.packages.dub
          ];
        };
      };
    };
}

And then run nix develop to enter a shell with the latest LDC and DUB installed:

$ dub
bash: dub: command not found

$ nix develop

$ dub --version
DUB version 1.30.0, built on Jan  1 1980

You can find the full example in templates/devshell/.

Pre-flakes usage

The default.nix file in the root of this repo is a shim that exposes all flake outputs as Nix attributes. This is useful for users who haven't yet made the jump to the Nix Flakes world.

For example, if you have an existing shell.nix file, all you need to do is add the changes marked as "NEW" from the snippet below:

{pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {}}: let
  # NEW: Import the dlang-nix Nix library:
  dlang-nix = import (pkgs.fetchFromGitHub {
    owner = "PetarKirov";
    repo = "dlang.nix";
    rev = "b9b7ef694329835bec97aa78e93757c3fbde8e13";
    hash = "sha256-zNvuU0DFSfCtQPFQ3rxri2e3mlMzLtJB/qaDsS0i9Gg=";
  });

  # NEW: Add `dpkgs` shorthand:
  dpkgs = dlang-nix.packages."${pkgs.system}";
in
  pkgs.mkShell {
    packages = [
      # NEW: Reference D-related packages from `dpkgs`:
      dpkgs.dmd
      dpkgs.dub
    ];
  }

You can find the full example in templates/pre-flake-devshell/.

It should be noted that unlike most traditional Nix projects, this will not build the compilers using your <nixpkgs>. Instead it will build them using a fixed Nixpkgs version defined in flake.lock of this project. Indeed this is one of the differences how things are usually done with and without flakes, even when it's possible to either pin or to not pin the nixpkgs version regardless of flake use.

Source and binary variants

DMD and LDC packages come in two variants: binary and source.

The binary variants are based on the the official DMD and LDC releases, but repackaged with autoPatchelfHook / fixDarwinDylibNames.

The source variants are built from source using the binary package for the first step of the bootstrap process.

As far as users of this repo are concerned, both the binary and source variants are distributed as pre-built binaries via the dlang-community.cachix.org binary cache.

This is useful for building custom versions of DMD and LDC, or for building DMD and LDC with custom patches.

PetarKirov / dlang.nix