Extra arguments may be passed to `stdenv.mkDerivation` by setting `derivationArgs`; note that variables set in this manner will be set when the shell script is _built,_ not when it's run.
Runtime environment variables can be set with the `runtimeEnv` argument.

For example, the following shell application can refer to `curl` directly, rather than needing to write `${curl}/bin/curl`:

```nix
writeShellApplication {
  name = "show-nixos-org";

  runtimeInputs = [
    curl
    w3m
  ];

  text = ''
    curl -s 'https://nixos.org' | w3m -dump -T text/html
  '';
}
```

## `symlinkJoin` {#trivial-builder-symlinkJoin}

This can be used to put many derivations into the same directory structure. It works by creating a new derivation and adding symlinks to each of the paths listed. It expects two arguments, `name`, and `paths`. `name` (or alternatively `pname` and `version`) is the name used in the Nix store path for the created derivation. `paths` is a list of paths that will be symlinked. These paths can be to Nix store derivations or any other subdirectory contained within.
Here is an example:
```nix
# adds symlinks of hello and stack to current build and prints "links added"
symlinkJoin {
  name = "myexample";
  paths = [
    pkgs.hello
    pkgs.stack
  ];
  postBuild = "echo links added";
}
```
This creates a derivation with a directory structure like the following:
```
/nix/store/sglsr5g079a5235hy29da3mq3hv8sjmm-myexample
|-- bin
|   |-- hello -> /nix/store/qy93dp4a3rqyn2mz63fbxjg228hffwyw-hello-2.10/bin/hello
|   `-- stack -> /nix/store/6lzdpxshx78281vy056lbk553ijsdr44-stack-2.1.3.1/bin/stack
`-- share
    |-- bash-completion
    |   `-- completions
    |       `-- stack -> /nix/store/6lzdpxshx78281vy056lbk553ijsdr44-stack-2.1.3.1/share/bash-completion/completions/stack
    |-- fish
    |   `-- vendor_completions.d
    |       `-- stack.fish -> /nix/store/6lzdpxshx78281vy056lbk553ijsdr44-stack-2.1.3.1/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/stack.fish
...
```

## `writeClosure` {#trivial-builder-writeClosure}

Given a list of [store paths](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/glossary#gloss-store-path) (or string-like expressions coercible to store paths), write their collective [closure](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/glossary#gloss-closure) to a text file.

The result is equivalent to the output of `nix-store -q --requisites`.

For example,

```nix
writeClosure [ (writeScriptBin "hi" "${hello}/bin/hello") ]
```

produces an output path `/nix/store/<hash>-runtime-deps` containing

```
/nix/store/<hash>-hello-2.10
/nix/store/<hash>-hi
/nix/store/<hash>-libidn2-2.3.0
/nix/store/<hash>-libunistring-0.9.10
/nix/store/<hash>-glibc-2.32-40
```

You can see that this includes `hi`, the original input path,
`hello`, which is a direct reference, but also
the other paths that are indirectly required to run `hello`.

## `writeDirectReferencesToFile` {#trivial-builder-writeDirectReferencesToFile}

Writes the set of references to the output file, that is, their immediate dependencies.

This produces the equivalent of `nix-store -q --references`.

For example,

```nix
writeDirectReferencesToFile (writeScriptBin "hi" "${hello}/bin/hello")
```

produces an output path `/nix/store/<hash>-runtime-references` containing

```
/nix/store/<hash>-hello-2.10
```

but none of `hello`'s dependencies because those are not referenced directly
by `hi`'s output.