nixpkgs/doc/build-helpers/fixed-point-arguments.chapter.md
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# Fixed-point arguments of build helpers {#chap-build-helpers-finalAttrs}
As mentioned in the beginning of this part, `stdenv.mkDerivation` could alternatively accept a fixed-point function. The input of such function, typically named `finalAttrs`, is expected to be the final state of the attribute set.
A build helper like this is said to accept **fixed-point arguments**.
Build helpers don't always support fixed-point arguments yet, as support in [`stdenv.mkDerivation`](#mkderivation-recursive-attributes) was first included in Nixpkgs 22.05.
## Defining a build helper with `lib.extendMkDerivation` {#sec-build-helper-extendMkDerivation}
Developers can use the Nixpkgs library function [`lib.customisation.extendMkDerivation`](#function-library-lib.customisation.extendMkDerivation) to define a build helper supporting fixed-point arguments from an existing one with such support, with an attribute overlay similar to the one taken by [`<pkg>.overrideAttrs`](#sec-pkg-overrideAttrs).
Beside overriding, `lib.extendMkDerivation` also supports `excludeDrvArgNames` to optionally exclude some arguments in the input fixed-point arguments from passing down the base build helper (specified as `constructDrv`).
:::{.example #ex-build-helpers-extendMkDerivation}
# Example definition of `mkLocalDerivation` extended from `stdenv.mkDerivation` with `lib.extendMkDerivation`
We want to define a build helper named `mkLocalDerivation` that builds locally without using substitutes by default.
Instead of taking a plain attribute set,
```nix
{
preferLocalBuild ? true,
allowSubstitute ? false,
specialArg ? (_: false),
...
}@args:
stdenv.mkDerivation (
removeAttrs [
# Don't pass specialArg into mkDerivation.
"specialArg"
] args
// {
# Arguments to pass
inherit preferLocalBuild allowSubstitute;
# Some expressions involving specialArg
greeting = if specialArg "hi" then "hi" else "hello";
}
)
```
we could define with `lib.extendMkDerivation` an attribute overlay to make the result build helper also accepts the the attribute set's fixed point passing to the underlying `stdenv.mkDerivation`, named `finalAttrs` here:
```nix
lib.extendMkDerivation {
constructDrv = stdenv.mkDerivation;
excludeDrvArgNames = [
# Don't pass specialArg into mkDerivation.
"specialArg"
];
extendDrvArgs =
finalAttrs:
{
preferLocalBuild ? true,
allowSubstitute ? false,
specialArg ? (_: false),
...
}@args:
{
# Arguments to pass
inherit
preferLocalBuild
allowSubstitute
;
# Some expressions involving specialArg
greeting = if specialArg "hi" then "hi" else "hello";
};
}
```
:::
If one needs to apply extra changes to the result derivation, pass the derivation transformation function to `lib.extendMkDerivation` as `lib.customisation.extendMkDerivation { transformDrv = drv: ...; }`.