No access to flake inputs within a perSystem module

[DavHau]

Similar to https://github.com/hercules-ci/flake-parts/issues/81.

Trying to add inputs to the perSystem args, triggers this error:

error: `inputs` (without `'`) is not a `perSystem` module argument, but a
       module argument of the top level config.

       The following is an example usage of `inputs`. Note that its binding
       is in the `top` parameter list, which is declared by the top level module
       rather than the `perSystem` module.

         top@{ config, lib, inputs, ... }: {
           perSystem = { config, inputs', ... }: {
             # in scope here:
             #  - inputs
             #  - inputs'
             #  - config (of perSystem)
             #  - top.config (note the `top@` pattern)
           };
         }

The statements about the scope only hold true as long as all code is defined inside a single flake.nix file. The lexical scope breaks as soon as the code is split into modules.

For example given the following flake.nix:

{
  inputs = {
    flake-parts.url = "github:hercules-ci/flake-parts";
    poetry2nix.url = "poetry2nix";
  };

  outputs = inputs@{ flake-parts, ... }:
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake { inherit inputs; } {
      systems = [
        "x86_64-linux"
      ];
      perSystem = { config, pkgs, ... }: {
        imports = [./my-package.nix];
      };
    };
}

and my-package.nix:

# flake-parts module for the tesh package
{config, pkgs, inputs, self, ...}: let
  poetry2nix = import inputs.poetry2nix {inherit pkgs;};
in {
  packages.tesh = poetry2nix.mkPythonPplication {
    projectDir = self;
  };
}

This breaks because inputs is not allowed as a function argument. This means it is not possible to access some inputs lib or similar things inside a perSystem module.

[roberth]

The idea behind this restriction is to make sure that all flake-parts modules are in one, compatible form. This convention avoids weird errors that would arise when importing a perSystem-level module into the top level or vice versa.

• https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/197547 would help, but only in cases where the module has its "class" set; usually not by the author, but possibly by flake-parts itself, via flake.flakeModules or similar.

The statements about the scope only hold true as long as all code is defined inside a single flake.nix file. The lexical scope breaks as soon as the code is split into modules.

This should work if you define the module as a top-level module. The top-level module provides the lexical scope with these variables, as suggested in the error message.

[roberth]

This decision could be reverted when we have

• [ ] error messages for bad imports: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/197547
• [ ] deferredModule options that tag modules with their class

[Atry]

I think the top-level module should always be a flake module, then it can define nested nixosModules/flakeModules. For example:

• https://github.com/Preemo-Inc/nix-ml-ops/blob/main/nixos-modules/nix-ld.nix
• https://github.com/Preemo-Inc/nix-ml-ops/blob/main/flake-modules/options-document.nix

When defining a nested flakeModules, the top level inputs are from the flake that defines the module, and the nested inputs are from the flake that use the module.

[TECHNOFAB11]

I just had the same issue, I wanted to access my util flake from a perSystem module. A workaround is adding this to the imports where the module gets imported:

({...}: {
  _module.args.origInputs = inputs;
})

I could then just use origInputs.<flake>