nixpkgs-vet: update CI, docs, and release to 0.1.4

Everything gets moved into the `ci/` top-level directory.

We keep behind `maintainers/scripts/check-by-name.sh` and `pkgs/test/check-by-name/pinned-version.txt` as they are going to cause CI errors and confusion until we get all the way through the various channels.
They'll be removed in about a week or so.

.github/CODEOWNERS

@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@
 # CI
 /.github/workflows @NixOS/Security @Mic92 @zowoq
 /.github/workflows/check-nix-format.yml @infinisil
-/ci @infinisil @NixOS/Security
+/.github/workflows/nixpkgs-vet.yml @infinisil @philiptaron
+/ci @infinisil @philiptaron @NixOS/Security
 
-# Develompent support
+# Development support
 /.editorconfig @Mic92 @zowoq
 /shell.nix @infinisil @NixOS/Security
 
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@
 /pkgs/top-level/stage.nix                        @Ericson2314
 /pkgs/top-level/splice.nix                       @Ericson2314
 /pkgs/top-level/release-cross.nix                @Ericson2314
+/pkgs/top-level/by-name-overlay.nix              @infinisil @philiptaron
 /pkgs/stdenv                                     @philiptaron
 /pkgs/stdenv/generic                             @Ericson2314
 /pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix              @Ericson2314
@@ -58,12 +60,6 @@
 /pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/libconfig                 @h7x4
 /pkgs/pkgs-lib/formats/hocon                     @h7x4
 
-# pkgs/by-name
-/pkgs/test/check-by-name @infinisil
-/pkgs/by-name/README.md @infinisil
-/pkgs/top-level/by-name-overlay.nix @infinisil
-/.github/workflows/check-by-name.yml @infinisil
-
 # Nixpkgs build-support
 /pkgs/build-support/writers @lassulus @Profpatsch
 
@@ -91,6 +87,7 @@ nixos/modules/installer/tools/nix-fallback-paths.nix  @NixOS/nix-team @raitobeza
 /doc/README.md @infinisil
 /nixos/README.md @infinisil
 /pkgs/README.md @infinisil
+/pkgs/by-name/README.md @infinisil
 /maintainers/README.md @infinisil
 
 # User-facing development documentation

.github/workflows/check-nix-format.yml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ name: Check that Nix files are formatted
 
 on:
   pull_request_target:
-    # See the comment at the same location in ./check-by-name.yml
+    # See the comment at the same location in ./nixpkgs-vet.yml
     types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, edited]
 permissions:
   contents: read

.github/workflows/check-by-name.yml → .github/workflows/nixpkgs-vet.yml

@@ -1,42 +1,30 @@
-# Checks pkgs/by-name (see pkgs/by-name/README.md)
-# using the nixpkgs-check-by-name tool (see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name)
-#
-# When you make changes to this workflow, also update pkgs/test/check-by-name/run-local.sh adequately
+# Checks pkgs/by-name (see pkgs/by-name/README.md) using the `nixpkgs-vet` tool (see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet)
+# When you make changes to this workflow, please also update `ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh` to reflect the impact of your work to the CI.
 name: Check pkgs/by-name
 
 on:
-  # Using pull_request_target instead of pull_request avoids having to approve first time contributors
+  # Using pull_request_target instead of pull_request avoids having to approve first time contributors.
   pull_request_target:
-    # This workflow depends on the base branch of the PR,
-    # but changing the base branch is not included in the default trigger events,
-    # which would be `opened`, `synchronize` or `reopened`.
-    # Instead it causes an `edited` event, so we need to add it explicitly here
-    # While `edited` is also triggered when the PR title/body is changed,
-    # this PR action is fairly quick, and PR's don't get edited that often,
-    # so it shouldn't be a problem
-    # There is a feature request for adding a `base_changed` event:
-    # https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/35058
+    # This workflow depends on the base branch of the PR, but changing the base branch is not included in the default trigger events, which would be `opened`, `synchronize` or `reopened`.
+    # Instead it causes an `edited` event, so we need to add it explicitly here.
+    # While `edited` is also triggered when the PR title/body is changed, this PR action is fairly quick, and PRs don't get edited **that** often, so it shouldn't be a problem.
+    # There is a feature request for adding a `base_changed` event: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/35058
     types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, edited]
 
 permissions: {}
 
-# We don't use a concurrency group here, because the action is triggered quite often (due to the PR edit
-# trigger), and contributers would get notified on any canceled run.
-# There is a feature request for supressing notifications on concurrency-canceled runs:
-# https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/13015
+# We don't use a concurrency group here, because the action is triggered quite often (due to the PR edit trigger), and contributors would get notified on any canceled run.
+# There is a feature request for suppressing notifications on concurrency-canceled runs: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/13015
 
 jobs:
   check:
     name: pkgs-by-name-check
-    # This needs to be x86_64-linux, because we depend on the tooling being pre-built in the GitHub releases
+    # This needs to be x86_64-linux, because we depend on the tooling being pre-built in the GitHub releases.
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # This should take 1 minute at most, but let's be generous.
-    # The default of 6 hours is definitely too long
+    # This should take 1 minute at most, but let's be generous. The default of 6 hours is definitely too long.
     timeout-minutes: 10
     steps:
-      # This step has to be in this file,
-      # because it's needed to determine which revision of the repository to fetch,
-      # and we can only use other files from the repository once it's fetched.
+      # This step has to be in this file, because it's needed to determine which revision of the repository to fetch, and we can only use other files from the repository once it's fetched.
       - name: Resolving the merge commit
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
@@ -99,27 +87,28 @@ jobs:
         if: env.mergedSha
       - name: Fetching the pinned tool
         if: env.mergedSha
-        # Update the pinned version using pkgs/test/check-by-name/update-pinned-tool.sh
+        # Update the pinned version using ci/nixpkgs-vet/update-pinned-tool.sh
         run: |
-          # The pinned version of the tooling to use
-          toolVersion=$(<pkgs/test/check-by-name/pinned-version.txt)
-          # Fetch the x86_64-linux-specific release artifact containing the Gzipped NAR of the pre-built tool
-          toolPath=$(curl -sSfL https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name/releases/download/"$toolVersion"/x86_64-linux.nar.gz \
+          # The pinned version of the tooling to use.
+          toolVersion=$(<ci/nixpkgs-vet/pinned-version.txt)
+
+          # Fetch the x86_64-linux-specific release artifact containing the gzipped NAR of the pre-built tool.
+          toolPath=$(curl -sSfL https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet/releases/download/"$toolVersion"/x86_64-linux.nar.gz \
             | gzip -cd | nix-store --import | tail -1)
-          # Adds a result symlink as a GC root
+
+          # Adds a result symlink as a GC root.
           nix-store --realise "$toolPath" --add-root result
-      - name: Running nixpkgs-check-by-name
+      - name: Running nixpkgs-vet
         if: env.mergedSha
         env:
-          # Force terminal colors to be enabled. The library that
-          # nixpkgs-check-by-name uses respects: https://bixense.com/clicolors/
+          # Force terminal colors to be enabled. The library that `nixpkgs-vet` uses respects https://bixense.com/clicolors/
           CLICOLOR_FORCE: 1
         run: |
-          if result/bin/nixpkgs-check-by-name --base "$base" .; then
+          if result/bin/nixpkgs-vet --base "$base" .; then
             exit 0
           else
             exitCode=$?
-            echo "To run locally: ./maintainers/scripts/check-by-name.sh $GITHUB_BASE_REF https://github.com/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY.git"
-            echo "If you're having trouble, ping @NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name"
+            echo "To run locally: ./ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh $GITHUB_BASE_REF https://github.com/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY.git"
+            echo "If you're having trouble, ping @NixOS/nixpkgs-vet"
             exit "$exitCode"
           fi

ci/README.md

@@ -10,3 +10,34 @@ In order to ensure that the needed packages are generally available without buil
 [`pinned-nixpkgs.json`](./pinned-nixpkgs.json) contains a pinned Nixpkgs version tested by Hydra.
 
 Run [`update-pinned-nixpkgs.sh`](./update-pinned-nixpkgs.sh) to update it.
+
+## `ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh BASE_BRANCH [REPOSITORY]`
+
+Runs the [`nixpkgs-vet` tool](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet) on the HEAD commit, closely matching what CI does. This can't do exactly the same as CI, because CI needs to rely on GitHub's server-side Git history to compute the mergeability of PRs before the check can be started.
+In turn, when contributors are running this tool locally, we don't want to have to push commits to test them, and we can also rely on the local Git history to do the mergeability check.
+
+Arguments:
+
+- `BASE_BRANCH`: The base branch to use, e.g. master or release-24.05
+- `REPOSITORY`: The repository from which to fetch the base branch. Defaults to <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git>.
+
+## `ci/nixpkgs-vet`
+
+This directory contains scripts and files used and related to [`nixpkgs-vet`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet/), which the CI uses to implement `pkgs/by-name` checks, along with many other Nixpkgs architecture rules.
+See also the [CI GitHub Action](../.github/workflows/nixpkgs-vet.yml).
+
+## `ci/nixpkgs-vet/update-pinned-tool.sh`
+
+Updates the pinned [`nixpkgs-vet` tool](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet) in [`ci/nixpkgs-vet/pinned-version.txt`](./nixpkgs-vet/pinned-version.txt) to the latest [release](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet/releases).
+
+Each release contains a pre-built `x86_64-linux` version of the tool which is used by CI.
+
+This script currently needs to be called manually when the CI tooling needs to be updated.
+
+Why not just build the tooling right from the PRs Nixpkgs version?
+
+- Because it allows CI to check all PRs, even if they would break the CI tooling.
+- Because it makes the CI check very fast, since no Nix builds need to be done, even for mass rebuilds.
+- Because it improves security, since we don't have to build potentially untrusted code from PRs.
+  The tool only needs a very minimal Nix evaluation at runtime, which can work with [readonly-mode](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/opt-common.html#opt-readonly-mode) and [restrict-eval](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/conf-file.html#conf-restrict-eval).
+

pkgs/test/check-by-name/run-local.sh → ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh

@@ -61,13 +61,11 @@ trace "Done"
 trace -n "Merging base branch into the HEAD commit in $tmp/merged.. "
 git -C "$tmp/merged" merge -q --no-edit "$baseSha"
 trace -e "\e[34m$(git -C "$tmp/merged" rev-parse HEAD)\e[0m"
-
-trace -n "Reading pinned nixpkgs-check-by-name version from pinned-version.txt.. "
-toolVersion=$(<"$tmp/merged/pkgs/test/check-by-name/pinned-version.txt")
+trace -n "Reading pinned nixpkgs-vet version from pinned-version.txt.. "
+toolVersion=$(<"$tmp/merged/ci/nixpkgs-vet/pinned-version.txt")
 trace -e "\e[34m$toolVersion\e[0m"
 
 trace -n "Building tool.. "
-nix-build https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name/tarball/"$toolVersion" -o "$tmp/tool" -A build
-
-trace "Running nixpkgs-check-by-name.."
-"$tmp/tool/bin/nixpkgs-check-by-name" --base "$tmp/base" "$tmp/merged"
+nix-build https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet/tarball/"$toolVersion" -o "$tmp/tool" -A build
+trace "Running nixpkgs-vet.."
+"$tmp/tool/bin/nixpkgs-vet" --base "$tmp/base" "$tmp/merged"

ci/nixpkgs-vet/pinned-version.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.1.4

pkgs/test/check-by-name/update-pinned-tool.sh → ci/nixpkgs-vet/update-pinned-tool.sh

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ trace() { echo >&2 "$@"; }
 
 SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
 
-repository=NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name
+repository=NixOS/nixpkgs-vet
 pin_file=$SCRIPT_DIR/pinned-version.txt
 
 trace -n "Fetching latest release of $repository.. "

maintainers/scripts/README.md

@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@ What follows is a (very incomplete) overview of available scripts.
 
 ## Metadata
 
-### `check-by-name.sh`
-
-An alias for `pkgs/test/check-by-name/run-local.sh`, see [documentation](../../pkgs/test/check-by-name/README.md).
-
 ### `get-maintainer.sh`
 
 `get-maintainer.sh [selector] value` returns a JSON object describing

maintainers/scripts/check-by-name.sh

@@ -1 +1 @@
-../../pkgs/test/check-by-name/run-local.sh
+../../ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh

pkgs/by-name/README.md

@@ -110,16 +110,16 @@ There's some limitations as to which packages can be defined using this structur
 
 ## Validation
 
-CI performs [certain checks](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name?tab=readme-ov-file#validity-checks) on the `pkgs/by-name` structure.
-This is done using the [`nixpkgs-check-by-name` tool](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-check-by-name).
+CI performs [certain checks](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet?tab=readme-ov-file#validity-checks) on the `pkgs/by-name` structure.
+This is done using the [`nixpkgs-vet` tool](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-vet).
 
 You can locally emulate the CI check using
 
 ```
-$ ./maintainers/scripts/check-by-name.sh master
+$ ./ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh master
 ```
 
-See [here](../../.github/workflows/check-by-name.yml) for more info.
+See [here](../../.github/workflows/nixpkgs-vet.yml) for more info.
 
 ## Recommendation for new packages with multiple versions