NixOS Shell for cabal-desktop development

shell.nix

with import <nixpkgs> {};
with pkgs;

let cabalEnv = buildEnv {
  name = "cabal-desktop-env";
  paths = [
    # npm sodium stuff
    clang
    gnumake
    libtool
    autoconf
    automake
    m4
    # electron stuff
    alsaLib
    atk
    at-spi2-atk
    at-spi2-core
    binutils
    bzip2
    cairo
    cups
    dbus.lib
    expat
    fontconfig
    freetype
    fuse
    gdk_pixbuf
    glib
    glibc
    gtk3-x11
    libuuid
    libcap
    libgnome_keyring3
    libgpgerror
    libnotify
    libsodium
    libappindicator-gtk3
    nspr
    nss
    pango
    python
    readline
    systemd
    udev
    xdg_utils
    xorg.libX11
    xorg.libXScrnSaver
    xorg.libXcomposite
    xorg.libXcursor
    xorg.libXdamage
    xorg.libXext
    xorg.libXfixes
    xorg.libXi
    xorg.libXrandr
    xorg.libXrender
    xorg.libXtst
    xorg.libxcb
    zlib
  ];
  extraOutputsToInstall = [ "lib" "dev" "out" ];
}; in

(pkgs.buildFHSUserEnv {
  name = "cabal-desktop-chroot";

  targetPkgs = pkgs: (with pkgs; [
    nodejs-14_x
    git
    unzip
    cabalEnv
  ]);

  extraOutputsToInstall = [ "lib" "dev" "out" ];

  extraBuildCommands = ''
    (cd usr/lib64 && ln -sv libbz2.so.1.0.* libbz2.so.1.0)
  '';

  # see to compile native modules for electron and not the nodejs of the env
  # https://www.electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/using-native-node-modules#using-npm
  profile = ''
    export npm_config_cache="/tmp/cabal-desktop-npm-cache/"
    export npm_config_devdir="/tmp/cabal-desktop-gyp/"
    export ELECTRON_CACHE="/tmp/cabal-desktop-electron-cache/"

    export npm_config_target=7.1.13 # from package.json
    # The architecture of Electron, see https://electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/support#supported-platforms
    # for supported architectures.
    export npm_config_arch=x64
    export npm_config_target_arch=x64
    # Download headers for Electron.
    export npm_config_disturl=https://electronjs.org/headers
    # Tell node-pre-gyp that we are building for Electron.
    export npm_config_runtime=electron
    # Tell node-pre-gyp to build module from source code.
    export npm_config_build_from_source=true

    export CC=clang
    export CXX=clang++

    export CFLAGS="$NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE"
    export CXXFLAGS="$NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE"
    export LDFLAGS="$NIX_LDFLAGS_BEFORE"
  '';
}).env

This creates a FHS chroot inside which you can run stuff just like on any other linux/unix system without having to package everything for nixos specificly.

It's not as nice as packaging for nixpkgs and there might be a bit too much stuff in the cabalEnv but it get's the job done.

How to use this:

put the shell.nix inside your checkout of cabal-desktop, run nix-shell and start hacking, aka:

nix-shell
npm i
npm start

maybe i can look at shaping this up to a real derivation/flake , however electron apps can be tricky..... so we'll have to see.

There is a conflict because ld is both in clang and binutils, any idea how to solve that?

does it need both, at the same tine to function... if so how does it work in 'the real world'

Create default.nix with the following contents and run
nix-build -E 'with import <nixpkgs> {}; callPackage ./default.nix {}'

Works fine for me but it would be nice if anyone can test it so I can create a pull request for this.

{ lib
, stdenv
, fetchurl
, alsa-lib
, at-spi2-atk
, at-spi2-core
, atk
, autoPatchelfHook
, cairo
, cups
, dbus
, dpkg
, expat
, fontconfig
, gdk-pixbuf
, glib
, glibc
, gsettings-desktop-schemas
, gtk3
, libX11
, libXScrnSaver
, libXcomposite
, libXcursor
, libXdamage
, libXext
, libXfixes
, libXi
, libXrandr
, libXrender
, libXtst
, libappindicator-gtk3
, libcap
, libgnome-keyring3
, libgpgerror
, libnotify
, libsodium
, libudev0-shim
, libuuid
, libxcb
, makeWrapper
, nspr
, nss
, pango
, wrapGAppsHook
}:

stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
  pname = "cabal-desktop";
  version = "7.0.0";

  src = fetchurl {
    url = "https://github.com/cabal-club/cabal-desktop/releases/download/v${version}/cabal-desktop_${version}_amd64.deb";
    hash = "sha256-PgQJWE4OmZNIykYMzOpGyXvXGnImOlq/egqZVB6ZFNE=";
  };

  buildInputs = [
    alsa-lib
    at-spi2-atk
    at-spi2-core
    atk
    cairo
    cups
    dbus
    expat
    fontconfig
    gdk-pixbuf
    glib
    gsettings-desktop-schemas
    gtk3
    libX11
    libXScrnSaver
    libXcomposite
    libXcursor
    libXdamage
    libXext
    libXfixes
    libXi
    libXrandr
    libXrender
    libXtst
    libappindicator-gtk3
    libcap
    libgnome-keyring3
    libgpgerror
    libnotify
    libsodium
    libudev0-shim
    libuuid
    libxcb
    nspr
    nss
    pango
  ];

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    autoPatchelfHook
    dpkg
    makeWrapper
    wrapGAppsHook
  ];

  runtimeLibs = lib.makeLibraryPath [ libudev0-shim glibc ];

  unpackPhase = ''
    dpkg-deb -x $src .
  '';

  installPhase = ''
    mkdir -p $out/share/cabal-desktop $out/bin $out/lib
    mv opt/Cabal/* $out/share/cabal-desktop
    mv usr/share/* $out/share/
    ln -s $out/share/cabal-desktop/cabal-desktop $out/bin/cabal-desktop
  '';

  preFixup = ''
    gappsWrapperArgs+=(--prefix LD_LIBRARY_PATH : "${runtimeLibs}" )
    # Correct desktop file `Exec`
    substituteInPlace $out/share/applications/cabal-desktop.desktop \
      --replace "/opt/Cabal/cabal-desktop" "$out/bin/cabal-desktop"
  '';

  meta = {
    homepage = "https://cabal.chat/";
    description = "Desktop client for cabal, the p2p/decentralized/offline-first chat platform";
    license = lib.licenses.agpl3Only;
    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.dansbandit ];
    platforms = lib.platforms.linux;
    sourceProvenance = with lib.sourceTypes; [ binaryNativeCode ];
  };
}

it a shame the it's a .deb that has to use patch elf, is the source not avalable?

It is! But I couldn’t get electron builder and node2nix to play nicely… 🤷‍♂️🙈

ps: it actually uses yarn and I couldn’t figure out how that factors into this.

roger that.. !! !!!

It's from the latest release https://github.com/cabal-club/cabal-desktop/releases/tag/v7.0.0.

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/nixos-22.11/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/vieb/default.nix is example using yarn.