bash: Make interactive the default

The status quo of `bash` not being interactive is frustrating for many users, because trying to use it interactively is just messed up, and `bashInteractive` is not intuitive and barely discoverable. This was brought to my (and many others) attention by @stahnma in his [talk at CfgMgmtCamp 2025](https://cfp.cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2025/talk/YUVUTN/), where he highlighted this as one of the frustrations he ran into when learning Nix. Why this is fine: - No reason for not making interactive the default was given in the original commit (6c6ff6f36f), but probably it was due to the increase in closure size - The closure size only increases by 6.9MiB (19.5%) today, with the added dependency on the store paths for readline and ncurses, which are needed on systems in almost all cases anyways - If somebody really needs to get a more minimal system, they can use the newly-introduced `bashNonInteractive` instead now - Though to apply it consistently, they'll need to do that in an overlay like ``` final: prev: { bash = self.bashNonInteractive; } ``` Or alternatively using the `system.replaceDependencies.replacements` NixOS option approach. While there's also other such `*Interactive` packages that could use the same treatment, `bash` is a great start. This was already attempted before in https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/151227, but was not continued for unknown reason. To avoid stdenv becoming bigger, all uses of bash in the (working) stdenv's are changed to the explicitly non-interactive version here. This commit will however still cause a mass rebuild for all packages (and reverse deps) making use of the default bash.
2025-02-04 13:04:31 +01:00 · 2025-02-04 13:04:31 +01:00 · e3491c9e40
commit e3491c9e40
parent 10053c5dfd
13 changed files with 44 additions and 44 deletions
--- a/pkgs/by-name/gr/groff/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/gr/groff/package.nix
@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
  pkg-config,
  texinfo,
  bison,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
 }:

 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
  buildInputs =
    [
      perl
-      bash
+      bashNonInteractive
    ]
    ++ lib.optionals enableGhostscript [
      ghostscript
--- a/pkgs/by-name/li/libxo/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/li/libxo/package.nix
@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
  lib,
  autoreconfHook,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
  libtool,
  fetchFromGitHub,
  nix-update-script,
@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  buildInputs = [
    autoreconfHook
    # For patchShebangs in postInstall
-    bash
+    bashNonInteractive
    perl
  ];

--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 , zlib

 # platform-specific dependencies
-, bash
+, bashNonInteractive
 , darwin
 , windows

@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {

  inherit nativeBuildInputs;
  buildInputs = lib.optionals (!stdenv.hostPlatform.isWindows) [
-    bash # only required for patchShebangs
+    bashNonInteractive # only required for patchShebangs
  ] ++ buildInputs;

  prePatch = optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {

  postPatch = optionalString (!stdenv.hostPlatform.isWindows) ''
    substituteInPlace Lib/subprocess.py \
-      --replace-fail "'/bin/sh'" "'${bash}/bin/sh'"
+      --replace-fail "'/bin/sh'" "'${bashNonInteractive}/bin/sh'"
  '' + optionalString mimetypesSupport ''
    substituteInPlace Lib/mimetypes.py \
      --replace-fail "@mime-types@" "${mailcap}"
@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  ] ++ lib.optionals (stdenv.hostPlatform != stdenv.buildPlatform) [
    # Ensure we don't have references to build-time packages.
    # These typically end up in shebangs.
-    pythonOnBuildForHost buildPackages.bash
+    pythonOnBuildForHost buildPackages.bashNonInteractive
  ];

  separateDebugInfo = true;
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  lib,
  fetchurl,
  libiconv,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
  updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook,
 }:

@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
  ];
  buildInputs =
    lib.optionals (!stdenv.hostPlatform.isMinGW) [
-      bash
+      bashNonInteractive
    ]
    ++ lib.optionals (!stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux && !stdenv.hostPlatform.isCygwin) [
      # HACK, see #10874 (and 14664)
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/common.nix
@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  fetchurl,
  perl,
  libintl,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
  updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook,
  gnulib,
  gawk,
@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
  nativeBuildInputs = [ updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook ];
  buildInputs =
    [
-      bash
+      bashNonInteractive
      libintl
    ]
    ++ optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isSunOS [
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/packages.nix
@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  fetchurl,
  perl,
  libintl,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
  updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook,
  gnulib,
  gawk,
@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ let
      xz
      libintl
      libiconv
-      bash
+      bashNonInteractive
      gnulib
      gawk
      freebsd
--- a/pkgs/shells/bash/5.nix
+++ b/pkgs/shells/bash/5.nix
@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 , bison
 , util-linux

-  # patch for cygwin requires readline support
-, interactive ? stdenv.hostPlatform.isCygwin
+, interactive ? true
 , readline
 , withDocs ? null
 , forFHSEnv ? false
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/darwin/default.nix
@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ let
            runtimeShell = prevStage.ccWrapperStdenv.shell;
          };

-      bash = prevStage.bash or bootstrapTools;
+      bashNonInteractive = prevStage.bashNonInteractive or bootstrapTools;

      thisStdenv = import ../generic {
        name = "${name}-stdenv-darwin";
@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ let
        inherit extraNativeBuildInputs;

        preHook =
-          lib.optionalString (!isBuiltByNixpkgsCompiler bash) ''
+          lib.optionalString (!isBuiltByNixpkgsCompiler bashNonInteractive) ''
            # Don't patch #!/interpreter because it leads to retained
            # dependencies on the bootstrapTools in the final stdenv.
            dontPatchShebangs=1
@ -181,9 +181,9 @@ let
            export PATH_LOCALE=${prevStage.darwin.locale}/share/locale
          '';

-        shell = bash + "/bin/bash";
+        shell = bashNonInteractive + "/bin/bash";
        initialPath = [
-          bash
+          bashNonInteractive
          prevStage.file
          bootstrapTools
        ];
@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ let
  # SDK packages include propagated packages and source release packages built during the bootstrap.
  sdkPackages = prevStage: {
    inherit (prevStage)
-      bash
+      bashNonInteractive
      libpng
      libxml2
      libxo
@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
        # stage should only access the stage that came before it.
        ccWrapperStdenv = self.stdenv;

-        bash = bootstrapTools // {
+        bashNonInteractive = bootstrapTools // {
          shellPath = "/bin/bash";
        };

@ -600,7 +600,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
      (llvmLibrariesPackages prevStage)
      {
        inherit (prevStage)
-          bash
+          bashNonInteractive
          cctools
          coreutils
          cpio
@ -847,14 +847,14 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
            inherit (prevStage) ccWrapperStdenv;

            # Avoid an infinite recursion due to the SDK’s including ncurses, which depends on bash in its `dev` output.
-            bash = super.bash.override { stdenv = self.darwin.bootstrapStdenv; };
+            bashNonInteractive = super.bashNonInteractive.override { stdenv = self.darwin.bootstrapStdenv; };

            # Avoid pulling in a full python and its extra dependencies for the llvm/clang builds.
            libxml2 = super.libxml2.override { pythonSupport = false; };

            # Use Bash from this stage to avoid propagating Bash from a previous stage to the final stdenv.
            ncurses = super.ncurses.override {
-              stdenv = self.darwin.bootstrapStdenv.override { shell = lib.getExe self.bash; };
+              stdenv = self.darwin.bootstrapStdenv.override { shell = lib.getExe self.bashNonInteractive; };
            };

            darwin = super.darwin.overrideScope (
@ -1162,7 +1162,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
        extraAttrs = {
          inherit bootstrapTools;
          libc = prevStage.darwin.libSystem;
-          shellPackage = prevStage.bash;
+          shellPackage = prevStage.bashNonInteractive;
        };

        disallowedRequisites = [ bootstrapTools.out ];
@ -1172,7 +1172,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
            with prevStage;
            [
              apple-sdk
-              bash
+              bashNonInteractive
              bzip2.bin
              bzip2.out
              cc.expand-response-params
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/freebsd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/freebsd/default.nix
@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ let
    expand-response-params = "";
    bsdcp = linkBootstrap { paths = [ "bin/bsdcp" ]; };
    patchelf = linkBootstrap { paths = [ "bin/patchelf" ]; };
-    bash = linkBootstrap {
+    bashNonInteractive = linkBootstrap {
      paths = [
        "bin/bash"
        "bin/sh"
@ -376,13 +376,13 @@ let
        gawk
        diffutils
        patch
-        bash
+        bashNonInteractive
        xz
        gzip
        bzip2
        bsdcp
      ];
-      shell = "${prevStage.bash}/bin/bash";
+      shell = "${prevStage.bashNonInteractive}/bin/bash";
      stdenvNoCC = import ../generic {
        inherit
          config
@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ in
        # we CAN'T import LLVM because the compiler built here is used to build the final compiler and the final compiler must not be built by the bootstrap compiler
        inherit (bootstrapTools)
          patchelf
-          bash
+          bashNonInteractive
          curl
          coreutils
          diffutils
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/common-path.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/common-path.nix
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  pkgs.gzip
  pkgs.bzip2.bin
  pkgs.gnumake
-  pkgs.bash
+  pkgs.bashNonInteractive
  pkgs.patch
  pkgs.xz.bin

--- a/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/linux/default.nix
@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
              bzip2
              xz
              zlib
-              bash
+              bashNonInteractive
              binutils
              coreutils
              diffutils
@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
              gzip
              bzip2
              xz
-              bash
+              bashNonInteractive
              binutils.bintools
              coreutils
              diffutils
@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ assert bootstrapTools.passthru.isFromBootstrapFiles or false; # sanity check
              gzip
              bzip2
              xz
-              bash
+              bashNonInteractive
              coreutils
              diffutils
              findutils
--- a/pkgs/tools/compression/zstd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/zstd/default.nix
@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  stdenv,
  fetchFromGitHub,
  cmake,
-  bash,
+  bashNonInteractive,
  gnugrep,
  fixDarwinDylibNames,
  file,
@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
  };

  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ] ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin fixDarwinDylibNames;
-  buildInputs = lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isUnix bash;
+  buildInputs = lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isUnix bashNonInteractive;

  patches = [
    # This patches makes sure we do not attempt to use the MD5 implementation
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@ -5586,17 +5586,18 @@ with pkgs;
  ### SHELLS

  runtimeShell = "${runtimeShellPackage}${runtimeShellPackage.shellPath}";
-  runtimeShellPackage = bash;
+  runtimeShellPackage = bashNonInteractive;

-  bash = lowPrio (callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix { });
+  bash = callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix { };
+  bashNonInteractive = lowPrio (callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix {
+    interactive = false;
+  });
  # WARNING: this attribute is used by nix-shell so it shouldn't be removed/renamed
-  bashInteractive = callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix {
-    interactive = true;
-  };
-  bashInteractiveFHS = callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix {
-    interactive = true;
+  bashInteractive = bash;
+  bashFHS = callPackage ../shells/bash/5.nix {
    forFHSEnv = true;
  };
+  bashInteractiveFHS = bashFHS;

  carapace = callPackage ../shells/carapace {
    buildGoModule = buildGo123Module;