Most functions now take a StorePath argument rather than a Path (which
is just an alias for std::string). The StorePath constructor ensures
that the path is syntactically correct (i.e. it looks like
<store-dir>/<base32-hash>-<name>). Similarly, functions like
buildPaths() now take a StorePathWithOutputs, rather than abusing Path
by adding a '!<outputs>' suffix.
Note that the StorePath type is implemented in Rust. This involves
some hackery to allow Rust values to be used directly in C++, via a
helper type whose destructor calls the Rust type's drop()
function. The main issue is the dynamic nature of C++ move semantics:
after we have moved a Rust value, we should not call the drop function
on the original value. So when we move a value, we set the original
value to bitwise zero, and the destructor only calls drop() if the
value is not bitwise zero. This should be sufficient for most types.
Also lots of minor cleanups to the C++ API to make it more modern
(e.g. using std::optional and std::string_view in some places).
POSIX file locks are essentially incompatible with multithreading. BSD
locks have much saner semantics. We need this now that there can be
multiple concurrent LocalStore::buildPaths() invocations.
This currently fails because we're using POSIX file locks. So when the
garbage collector opens and closes its own temproots file, it causes
the lock to be released and then deleted by another GC instance.
Scanning of /proc/<pid>/{exe,cwd} was broken because '{memory:' was
prepended twice. Also, get rid of the whole '{memory:...}' thing
because it's unnecessary, we can just list the file in /proc directly.
This new structure makes more sense as there may be many sources rooting
the same store path. Many profiles can reference the same path but this
is even more true with /proc/<pid>/maps where distinct pids can and
often do map the same store path.
This implementation is also more efficient as the `Roots` map contains
only one entry per rooted store path.
If a process disappears between the time /proc/[pid]/maps is opened and
the time it is read, the read() syscall will return ESRCH. This should be ignored.
For example,
$ nix-store -q --roots /nix/store/7phd2sav7068nivgvmj2vpm3v47fd27l-patchelf-0.8pre845_0315148
{temp:1}
denotes that the path is only being kept alive by a temporary root
(i.e. /nix/var/nix/temproots/). Similarly,
$ nix-store --gc --print-roots
...
{memory:9} -> /nix/store/094gpjn9f15ip17wzxhma4r51nvsj17p-curl-7.53.1
shows that curl is being used by some process.
Nix can now automatically run the garbage collector during builds or
while adding paths to the store. The option "min-free = <bytes>"
specifies that Nix should run the garbage collector whenever free
space in the Nix store drops below <bytes>. It will then delete
garbage until "max-free" bytes are available.
Garbage collection during builds is asynchronous; running builds are
not paused and new builds are not blocked. However, there also is a
synchronous GC run prior to the first build/substitution.
Currently, no old GC roots are deleted (as in "nix-collect-garbage
-d").
Since file locks are per-process rather than per-file-descriptor, the
garbage collector would always acquire a lock on its own temproots
file and conclude that it's stale.
In particular, drop the "build-" and "gc-" prefixes which are
pointless. So now you can say
nix build --no-sandbox
instead of
nix build --no-build-use-sandbox
Samuel Dionne-Riel
Bob van der Linden
Jörg Thalheim