Declarative signature specification for built-in functions

[fricklerhandwerk]

Problem statement

Currently, implementation of builtins procedurally checks validity of arguments, and interface documentation has to be written manually.

Solution proposal

Create a data structure that represents language values and use that when registering primops; automatically generate interface documentation from that.

Related

• https://discourse.nixos.org/t/2023-11-03-nix-team-meeting-minutes-100/35245#next-stabilisation-steps-3
• https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/9817
• https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/9732
• https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/9273

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/2024-06-05-nix-team-meeting-minutes-150/46583/1