Expose generated steel code/config so that it it can be symlinked in home-manager.

[voidcontext]

To make it work from home-manager, notice that both STEEL_HOME must be set, and the files need to be symlinked into ~/.config/helix/helix. If only one of them is set, there are errors because steel cannot load the modules (different ones in each case).

programs.zsh.initExtra = ''
  export STEEL_HOME="${helix-with-steel}/lib/steel"
'';

xdg.configFile."helix/helix".source = ${helix-with-steel}/lib/steel;

I am not sure but I might be related how realtive paths are considered in case of symlinked modules. I tried reproducing the issue, but unfortunately I wasn't able to do that with a simplified scenario. @mattwparas what do you think?

[mattwparas]

Sorry, what is home-manager?

[voidcontext]

Sorry, what is home-manager?

Ah, ok, how familiar are you with nix?

[mattwparas]

Enough to know what nix is, but I don't use it at all so I'm largely unfamiliar with any details

[voidcontext]

Enough to know what nix is, but I don't use it at all so I'm largely unfamiliar with any details

Ok, so, just like nixpkgs is a collection of modules that can be used to build a linux distro, home-manager is a collection of nix modules to manage users home directory / dotfiles (not just on nixos, but oanywhere where nix is supported, e.g. on macOS).

[mattwparas]

Got it - so having the $STEEL_HOME set should be fine. I don't know that I've ever really tested using sym linked files for imports. I can poke around and see how steel handles them

[voidcontext]

It seems, with the current version, the STEEL_HOME env var is not needed, and symlinking the lib/steel directory as ~/.config/helix/helix is sufficient.

So the config can be simplified to

xdg.configFile."helix/helix".source = ${helix-with-steel}/lib/steel;

Which is I think good enough.... Is there anything else that should be sorted in this PR?

[MatrixManAtYrService]

I ran across a similar difficulty, and my solution is not substantially different: https://github.com/mattwparas/helix/pull/7 (I didn't notice this PR until I had created my own). The difference:

• This PR makes the generated files part of the helix output under /lib/steel
• https://github.com/mattwparas/helix/pull/7 creates helix-cogs as a standalone output and puts them under /cogs/helix

I don't feel strongly about which approach we go with, they both make the generated files available. Do you have any thoughts @voidcontext?

---

This isn't really related to the content of the PR but you mentioned using: export STEEL_HOME="${helix-with-steel}/lib/steel". I find that if I put $STEEL_HOME in the nix store and then use the steel repl, it will complain about being in a readonly filesystem (it wants to put history files in $STEEL_HOME). Just an FYI.

[evanrichter]

put $STEEL_HOME in the nix store and then use the steel repl, it will complain about being in a readonly filesystem

same here

[voidcontext]

@evanrichter, @MatrixManAtYrService As I mentioned in https://github.com/mattwparas/helix/pull/3#issuecomment-2242507368, it is not required anymore to set the STEEL_HOME env var, creating the symlinks works and probaby it's closer to what we want at the end.

[voidcontext]

I ran across a similar difficulty, and my solution is not substantially different: #7 (I didn't notice this PR until I had created my own). The difference:

* This PR makes the generated files part of the `helix` output under `/lib/steel`

* [Add a flake output for the helix cogs #7](https://github.com/mattwparas/helix/pull/7) creates `helix-cogs` as a standalone output and puts them under `/cogs/helix`

I don't feel strongly about which approach we go with, they both make the generated files available. Do you have any thoughts @voidcontext?

This isn't really related to the content of the PR but you mentioned using: export STEEL_HOME="${helix-with-steel}/lib/steel". I find that if I put $STEEL_HOME in the nix store and then use the steel repl, it will complain about being in a readonly filesystem (it wants to put history files in $STEEL_HOME). Just an FYI.

@MatrixManAtYrService I like your version too, tbh, I don't mind what is accepted in the end, as far as it's working with home-manager.