From 132d6f2c2419891b92870c61c599a5e6aa97c865 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Carlo Nucera <carlo.nucera@protonmail.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2020 16:08:32 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Clarify the description of StorePath construction

---
 src/libstore/store-api.cc | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.cc b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
index 095363d0c..e5492ce34 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.cc
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ string storePathToHash(const Path & path)
 
 /* Store paths have the following form:
 
-   <store>/<h>-<name>
+   <realized-path> = <store>/<h>-<name>
 
    where
 
@@ -93,11 +93,14 @@ string storePathToHash(const Path & path)
    <type> = one of:
      "text:<r1>:<r2>:...<rN>"
        for plain text files written to the store using
-       addTextToStore(); <r1> ... <rN> are the references of the
-       path.
-     "source"
+       addTextToStore(); <r1> ... <rN> are the store paths referenced
+       by this path, in the form described by <realized-path>
+     "source:<r1>:<r2>:...:<rN>:self"
        for paths copied to the store using addToStore() when recursive
-       = true and hashAlgo = "sha256"
+       = true and hashAlgo = "sha256". Just like in the text case, we
+       can have the store paths referenced by the path.
+       Additionally, we can have an optional :self label to denote self
+       reference.
      "output:<id>"
        for either the outputs created by derivations, OR paths copied
        to the store using addToStore() with recursive != true or
@@ -125,6 +128,12 @@ string storePathToHash(const Path & path)
              the contents of the path (or expected contents of the
              path for fixed-output derivations)
 
+   Note that since an output derivation has always type output, while
+   something added by addToStore can have type output or source depending
+   on the hash, this means that the same input can be hashed differently
+   if added to the store via addToStore or via a derivation, in the sha256
+   recursive case.
+
    It would have been nicer to handle fixed-output derivations under
    "source", e.g. have something like "source:<rec><algo>", but we're
    stuck with this for now...