How can I do a simple overlay with a complicated .nix file?

phaeseeKe5Ee · December 8, 2023, 4:58pm

Hi, I am a beginner of NixOS.
I want to remove just one line in the tor-browser/default.nix file:

NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/b4372c4924d9182034066c823df76d6eaf1f4ec4/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/tor-browser/default.nix#L428


      
            TOR_CONTROL_PASSWD="\''${TOR_CONTROL_PASSWD:-}" \
            TOR_SOCKS_HOST="\''${TOR_SOCKS_HOST:-}" \
            TOR_SOCKS_PORT="\''${TOR_SOCKS_PORT:-}" \
            \
            FONTCONFIG_FILE="$FONTCONFIG_FILE" \
            \
            LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$libPath" \
            \
            "$TBB_IN_STORE/firefox" \
              --class "Tor Browser" \
              -no-remote \
              -profile "\$HOME/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default" \
              "\''${@}"
          EOF
          chmod +x $out/bin/tor-browser
          
          
# Easier access to docs
          mkdir -p $out/share/doc
          ln -s $TBB_IN_STORE/TorBrowser/Docs $out/share/doc/tor-browser
          
          
# Install .desktop item

It can be achieved by duplicating the file into other place, modify it, and then install it in environment.systemPackages = []; by ( callPackage ./somewhere/default.nix {} ).
However in this way I cannot get the update of tor-browser.

I think overlay is a better approach. However I am not capable of writing an overlay for such a complicated nix file.
Please help! Thank you very much!

Artturin · December 8, 2023, 5:48pm

overrideAttrs and apply builtins.replaceStrings to previousAttrs.buildPhase

phaeseeKe5Ee · December 8, 2023, 8:01pm

Thanks for the hint!
This is the overlays that I am using now!

final: prev:{
  tor-browser = prev.tor-browser.overrideAttrs(o: {
    buildPhase = builtins.replaceStrings [ "-no-remote" ] [ "" ] o.buildPhase;
  });
}