nixpkgs can save a good bit of eval memory with this primop. zipAttrsWith is
used quite a bit around nixpkgs (eg in the form of recursiveUpdate), but the
most costly application for this primop is in the module system. it improves
the implementation of zipAttrsWith from nixpkgs by not checking an attribute
multiple times if it occurs more than once in the input list, allocates less
values and set elements, and just avoids many a temporary object in general.
nixpkgs has a more generic version of this operation, zipAttrsWithNames, but
this version is only used once so isn't suitable for being the base of a new
primop. if it were to be used more we should add a second primop instead.
This function is very useful in nixpkgs, but its implementation in Nix
itself is rather slow due to it requiring a lot of attribute set and
list appends.
This is technically a breaking change, since attempting to set plugin
files after the first non-flag argument will now throw an error. This
is acceptable given the relative lack of stability in a plugin
interface and the need to tie the knot somewhere once plugins can
actually define new subcommands.
Jade Lovelace