From 139dd625b84c8beda3d4f2261894202e2bbd21f5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sven Wilhelm <refnode@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2024 21:00:11 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] refactor: rewrite and document system and pkgs functions

Take inspiration from Misterio77 nix-config and integrate his pkgsFor
and forEachSystem functions into my nix config. To align it for my
needs, rename the existing forAllSystems functions to forEachSystem
and rename the Misterios77 forEachSystem to pkgsForEachSystem, as
it's intention is to give access to pkgs for each current system.

Align also the names my pkgs function to pkgsFor and unstablePkgsFor.

In a later iteration I will integrate the unstable pkgs access using
an overlay.
---
 flake.nix | 87 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------
 1 file changed, 61 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 7da1936..97256ba 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -31,39 +31,74 @@
       "aarch64-darwin"
     ];
 
-    forAllSystems = nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems;
+    # Uses lib.genAttrs to generate a attribute set, in this case using
+    # the systems as defined in `supportedSystems` as names.
+    # https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#function-library-lib.attrsets.genAttrs
+    # This is a partial function as it misses the function param to lib.genAttrs
+    forEachSystem = nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems;
+
+    # Taken from https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-config
+    #
+    # Let's break that down, because it's a nice example.
+    #
+    # Let's assume, the function is called as in the formatter output below:
+    # pkgsForEachSystem(pkgs: pkgs.alejandra)
+    #
+    # pkgsForEachSystem is a function takes a function `f` as argument.
+    # So `(pkgs: pkgs.alejandra)` is the function passed as argument.
+    #
+    # In the function body lib.genAttrs takes the list of supportedSystems
+    # and maps the list to an attribute set using the function
+    # (system: f pkgsFor.${system})
+    #
+    # Let's assume the iteration passes `x86_64-linux` as system.
+    # The function body `(system: f pkgsFor.${system})` then becomes
+    # (x86_64-linux: (pkgs: pkgs.alejandra) pkgsFor.x86_64-linux)
+
+    # The function `(pkgs: pkgs.alejandra)` gets `pkgsFor.x86_64-linux` as
+    # argument for `pkgs` and finally evaluates to pkgs.x86_64-linux.alejandra.
+    pkgsForEachSystem = f: nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems (system: f pkgsFor.${system});
+
+    # Rewriting the function, taking inspiration from
+    # https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-config
+    # Using lib.genAttrs to import nixpkgs provides a nice way to quick
+    # access or pass pkgs for a certain targetSystem by simply access eg.
+    # pkgsFor.x86_64-linux or pkgsFor.${system} as pkgsFor is finally an
+    # attribute set, with system keys referencing to nixpkgs for that
+    # system.
+    pkgsFor = nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems (
+      system:
+        import nixpkgs {
+          inherit system;
+          overlays = [
+            localOverlays
+          ];
+          # activate unfree when I know that I need it.
+          config.allowUnfree = false;
+        }
+    );
+
+    unstablePkgsFor = nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems (
+      system:
+        import nixpkgs-unstable {
+          inherit system;
+          overlays = [];
+          # activate unfree when I know that I need it.
+          config.allowUnfree = false;
+        }
+    );
 
     # add local scripts as derivations using an overlay
     # could be also done by just passing additional args to the submodules
     # using the overlay approach, the repo local derivations are addressable
     # by pkgs.myderivation in the submodule
     localOverlays = import ./overlays;
-
-    pkgsForSystem = system:
-      import nixpkgs {
-        overlays = [
-          localOverlays
-        ];
-        inherit system;
-      };
-
-    unstablePkgsForSystem = system:
-      import nixpkgs-unstable {
-        # if you have additional overlays, you may add them here
-        overlays = [];
-        inherit system;
-      };
   in {
-    formatter = forAllSystems (
-      system: let
-        pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
-      in
-        pkgs.alejandra
-    );
+    formatter = pkgsForEachSystem (pkgs: pkgs.alejandra);
 
-    devShells = forAllSystems (
+    devShells = forEachSystem (
       system: let
-        pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
+        pkgs = pkgsFor.${system};
 
         # based on example
         # https://github.com/cachix/pre-commit-hooks.nix#nix-flakes-support
@@ -88,8 +123,8 @@
 
     darwinConfigurations = let
       system = "aarch64-darwin";
-      pkgs = pkgsForSystem system;
-      pkgsUnstable = unstablePkgsForSystem system;
+      pkgs = pkgsFor.${system};
+      pkgsUnstable = unstablePkgsFor.${system};
     in {
       defiant = import ./lib {
         inherit