pkgs/top-level: make package sets composable

lib/modules.nix

@@ -844,6 +844,8 @@ let
 
     in warnDeprecation opt //
       { value = addErrorContext "while evaluating the option `${showOption loc}':" value;
+        # raw value before "apply" above
+        rawValue = addErrorContext "while evaluating the option `${showOption loc}':" res.mergedValue;
         inherit (res.defsFinal') highestPrio;
         definitions = map (def: def.value) res.defsFinal;
         files = map (def: def.file) res.defsFinal;

nixos/modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix

@@ -70,19 +70,24 @@ let
     ++ lib.optional (opt.localSystem.highestPrio < (lib.mkOptionDefault { }).priority) opt.localSystem
     ++ lib.optional (opt.crossSystem.highestPrio < (lib.mkOptionDefault { }).priority) opt.crossSystem;
 
+  # pkgs/top-level/default.nix takes great strides to pass the *original* localSystem/crossSystem args
+  # on to nixpkgsFun to create package sets like pkgsStatic, pkgsMusl. This is to be able to infer default
+  # values again. Since cfg.xxxPlatform and cfg.xxxSystem are elaborated via apply, those can't be passed
+  # directly. Instead we use the rawValue before the apply/elaboration step, via opt.xxx.rawValue.
   defaultPkgs =
     if opt.hostPlatform.isDefined then
       let
+        # This compares elaborated systems on purpose, **not** using rawValue.
         isCross = cfg.buildPlatform != cfg.hostPlatform;
         systemArgs =
           if isCross then
             {
-              localSystem = cfg.buildPlatform;
-              crossSystem = cfg.hostPlatform;
+              localSystem = opt.buildPlatform.rawValue;
+              crossSystem = opt.hostPlatform.rawValue;
             }
           else
             {
-              localSystem = cfg.hostPlatform;
+              localSystem = opt.hostPlatform.rawValue;
             };
       in
       import ../../.. (
@@ -96,9 +101,9 @@ let
         inherit (cfg)
           config
           overlays
-          localSystem
-          crossSystem
           ;
+        localSystem = opt.localSystem.rawValue;
+        crossSystem = opt.crossSystem.rawValue;
       };
 
   finalPkgs = if opt.pkgs.isDefined then cfg.pkgs.appendOverlays cfg.overlays else defaultPkgs;

pkgs/test/top-level/stage.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# run like this:
+#  nix-build pkgs/test/top-level/stage.nix
+{
+  localSystem ? {
+    system = builtins.currentSystem;
+  },
+}:
+
+with import ../../top-level { inherit localSystem; };
+
+let
+  # To silence platform specific evaluation errors
+  discardEvaluationErrors = e: (builtins.tryEval e).success -> e;
+
+  # Basic test for idempotency of the package set, i.e:
+  # Applying the same package set twice should work and
+  # not change anything.
+  isIdempotent = set: discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.${set}.stdenv == pkgs.${set}.${set}.stdenv);
+
+  # Some package sets should be noops in certain circumstances.
+  # This is very similar to the idempotency test, but not going
+  # via the super' overlay.
+  isNoop =
+    parent: child:
+    discardEvaluationErrors (
+      (lib.getAttrFromPath parent pkgs).stdenv == (lib.getAttrFromPath parent pkgs).${child}.stdenv
+    );
+
+  allMuslExamples = builtins.attrNames (
+    lib.filterAttrs (_: system: lib.hasSuffix "-musl" system.config) lib.systems.examples
+  );
+
+  allLLVMExamples = builtins.attrNames (
+    lib.filterAttrs (_: system: system.useLLVM or false) lib.systems.examples
+  );
+
+  # A package set should only change specific configuration, but needs
+  # to keep all other configuration from previous layers in place.
+  # Each package set has one or more key characteristics for which we
+  # test here. Those should be kept, even when applying the "set" package
+  # set.
+  isComposable =
+    set:
+    discardEvaluationErrors (
+      pkgsCross.mingwW64.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.config == "x86_64-w64-mingw32"
+    )
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgsCross.mingwW64.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.libc == "msvcrt")
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgsCross.ppc64-musl.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.gcc.abi == "elfv2")
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (
+      builtins.elem "trivialautovarinit" pkgs.pkgsExtraHardening.${set}.stdenv.cc.defaultHardeningFlags
+    )
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsLLVM.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.useLLVM)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsArocc.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.useArocc)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsZig.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.useZig)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsLinux.${set}.stdenv.buildPlatform.isLinux)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsMusl.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsStatic.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isStatic)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsi686Linux.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_32)
+    && discardEvaluationErrors (pkgs.pkgsx86_64Darwin.${set}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_64);
+in
+
+# Appends same defaultHardeningFlags again on each .pkgsExtraHardening - thus not idempotent.
+# assert isIdempotent "pkgsExtraHardening";
+# TODO: Remove the isDarwin condition, which currently results in infinite recursion.
+# Also see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/330567#discussion_r1894653309
+assert (stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin || isIdempotent "pkgsLLVM");
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsArocc";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsZig";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsLinux";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsMusl";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsStatic";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsi686Linux";
+assert isIdempotent "pkgsx86_64Darwin";
+
+assert isNoop [ "pkgsStatic" ] "pkgsMusl";
+assert lib.all (sys: isNoop [ "pkgsCross" sys ] "pkgsMusl") allMuslExamples;
+assert lib.all (sys: isNoop [ "pkgsCross" sys ] "pkgsLLVM") allLLVMExamples;
+
+assert isComposable "pkgsExtraHardening";
+assert isComposable "pkgsLLVM";
+assert isComposable "pkgsArocc";
+# TODO: unexpected argument 'bintools' - uncomment once https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/331011 is done
+# assert isComposable "pkgsZig";
+assert isComposable "pkgsMusl";
+assert isComposable "pkgsStatic";
+assert isComposable "pkgsi686Linux";
+
+# Special cases regarding buildPlatform vs hostPlatform
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (pkgsCross.gnu64.pkgsMusl.stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl);
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (pkgsCross.gnu64.pkgsi686Linux.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_32);
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (pkgsCross.mingwW64.pkgsLinux.stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux);
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (
+  pkgsCross.aarch64-darwin.pkgsx86_64Darwin.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_64
+);
+
+# pkgsCross should keep upper cross settings
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (
+  with pkgsStatic.pkgsCross.gnu64.stdenv.hostPlatform; isGnu && isStatic
+);
+assert discardEvaluationErrors (
+  with pkgsLLVM.pkgsCross.musl64.stdenv.hostPlatform; isMusl && useLLVM
+);
+
+emptyFile

pkgs/top-level/default.nix

@@ -122,22 +122,18 @@ in let
   config = lib.showWarnings configEval.config.warnings configEval.config;
 
   # A few packages make a new package set to draw their dependencies from.
-  # (Currently to get a cross tool chain, or forced-i686 package.) Rather than
-  # give `all-packages.nix` all the arguments to this function, even ones that
-  # don't concern it, we give it this function to "re-call" nixpkgs, inheriting
-  # whatever arguments it doesn't explicitly provide. This way,
-  # `all-packages.nix` doesn't know more than it needs too.
+  # Rather than give `all-packages.nix` all the arguments to this function,
+  # even ones that don't concern it, we give it this function to "re-call"
+  # nixpkgs, inheriting whatever arguments it doesn't explicitly provide. This
+  # way, `all-packages.nix` doesn't know more than it needs to.
   #
   # It's OK that `args` doesn't include default arguments from this file:
   # they'll be deterministically inferred. In fact we must *not* include them,
   # because it's important that if some parameter which affects the default is
   # substituted with a different argument, the default is re-inferred.
   #
-  # To put this in concrete terms, this function is basically just used today to
-  # use package for a different platform for the current platform (namely cross
-  # compiling toolchains and 32-bit packages on x86_64). In both those cases we
-  # want the provided non-native `localSystem` argument to affect the stdenv
-  # chosen.
+  # To put this in concrete terms, we want the provided non-native `localSystem`
+  # and `crossSystem` arguments to affect the stdenv chosen.
   #
   # NB!!! This thing gets its `config` argument from `args`, i.e. it's actually
   # `config0`. It is important to keep it to `config0` format (as opposed to the
@@ -146,7 +142,7 @@ in let
   # via `evalModules` is not idempotent. In other words, if you add `config` to
   # `newArgs`, expect strange very hard to debug errors! (Yes, I'm speaking from
   # experience here.)
-  nixpkgsFun = newArgs: import ./. (args // newArgs);
+  nixpkgsFun = f0: import ./. (args // f0 args);
 
   # Partially apply some arguments for building bootstraping stage pkgs
   # sets. Only apply arguments which no stdenv would want to override.