An alternative to `buildNimPackage` is `buildNimSbom` which builds packages from [CycloneDX SBOM](https://cyclonedx.org/) files.
`buildNimSbom` resolves Nim dependencies to [fixed-output derivations](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/glossary#gloss-fixed-output-derivation) using the [nix:fod namespace](#sec-interop.cylonedx-fod).
In the following minimal example only the source code checkout and a `buildInput` are specified.
The SBOM file provides metadata such as `pname` and `version` as well as the sources to Nim dependencies.
```nix
# pkgs/by-name/ni/nim_lk/package.nix
{
lib,
buildNimSbom,
fetchFromSourcehut,
openssl,
}:
buildNimSbom (finalAttrs: {
src = fetchFromSourcehut {
owner = "~ehmry";
repo = "nim_lk";
rev = finalAttrs.version;
hash = lib.fakeHash;
};
buildInputs = [ openssl ];
}) ./sbom.json
```
### Generating SBOMs {#generating-nim-sboms}
The [nim_lk](https://git.sr.ht/~ehmry/nim_lk) utility can generate SBOMs from [Nimble](https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble) package metadata.
See the [nim_lk documentation](https://git.sr.ht/~ehmry/nim_lk#nimble-to-cyclonedx-sbom) for more information.
## Overriding Nim packages {#nim-overrides}
The `buildNimPackage` and `buildNimSbom` functions generate flags and additional build dependencies from the `lockFile` parameter passed to `buildNimPackage`. Using [`overrideAttrs`](#sec-pkg-overrideAttrs) on the final package will apply after this has already been generated, so this can't be used to override the `lockFile` in a package built with `buildNimPackage`. To be able to override parameters before flags and build dependencies are generated from the `lockFile`, use `overrideNimAttrs` instead with the same syntax as `overrideAttrs`:
```nix
pkgs.nitter.overrideNimAttrs {
# using a different source which has different dependencies from the standard package
src = pkgs.fetchFromGithub {
# …
};
# new lock file generated from the source
lockFile = ./custom-lock.json;
}
```
## Lockfile dependency overrides {#nim-lock-overrides}
The `buildNimPackage` function matches the libraries specified by `lockFile` to attrset of override functions that are then applied to the package derivation.
The default overrides are maintained as the top-level `nimOverrides` attrset at `pkgs/top-level/nim-overrides.nix`.
For example, to propagate a dependency on SDL2 for lockfiles that select the Nim `sdl2` library, an overlay is added to the set in the `nim-overrides.nix` file:
```nix
{
lib,
# …
SDL2,
# …
}:
{
# …
sdl2 =
lockAttrs:
{
buildInputs ? [ ],
...
}:
{
buildInputs = buildInputs ++ [ SDL2 ];
};
# …
}
```
The annotations in the `nim-overrides.nix` set are functions that take two arguments and return a new attrset to be overlaid on the package being built.
- lockAttrs: the attrset for this library from within a lockfile. This can be used to implement library version constraints, such as marking libraries as broken or insecure.
- prevAttrs: the attrset produced by initial arguments to `buildNimPackage` and any preceding lockfile overlays.
### Overriding an Nim library override {#nim-lock-overrides-overrides}
The `nimOverrides` attrset makes it possible to modify overrides in a few different ways.
Override a package internal to its definition:
```nix
{
lib,
buildNimPackage,
nimOverrides,
libressl,
}:
let
buildNimPackage' = buildNimPackage.override {
nimOverrides = nimOverrides.override { openssl = libressl; };
};
in
buildNimPackage' (finalAttrs: {
pname = "foo";
# …
})
```
Override a package externally:
```nix
{ pkgs }:
{
foo = pkgs.foo.override {
buildNimPackage = pkgs.buildNimPackage.override {
nimOverrides = pkgs.nimOverrides.override { openssl = libressl; };
};
};
}
```