While building the Nix packages for pl/Rust I bumped into a curious issue: I couldn't link to stdio.h, or stdbool.h! They were clearly on my path, too.

It flummoxed me for quite some time, but exploring the firefox package led to a way forward. It was rust-bindgen not finding libraries!

Why `rust-bindgen` fails

In my case, there were multiple problems, but the problem solving of the first issue lead to me being able to handle the second much easier.

Missing paths from `gcc-wrapper`

Bindgen uses libclang instead of calling $CC. This means it interacts poorly which NixOS, whose rustPlatform.buildRustPackage sets a $CC for rustc to use.

You can see on the last line here:

$ nix build --print-build-logs
# ...
doggo> Executing cargoBuildHook
doggo> ++ env CC_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/cc CXX_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/c++ CC_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/cc CXX_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/c++ cargo build -j 32 --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --frozen --release

This means when rust-bindgen runs, it doesn't have knowledge about all those paths it probably maybe should have as provided by the gcc-wrapper.

The gcc-wrapper derivation includes several support files in $out/nix-support we can utilize to work around this problem.

Additional paths

The libraries from gcc-wrapper aren't always enough though. It's common to need additional libraries, such as something like stddef.h which is available in the gcc includes.

In these cases, we can often find the pathes of the relevant libraries by looking at the output from cpp -v /dev/null -o /dev/null (as recommended by the gcc docs) in the preBuild phase, and investigating nix build .#doggo --print-build-logs:

rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
  # ...
  preBuild = ''
    cpp -v /dev/null -o /dev/null
  '';
  # ...
}

That would output a list of paths you could search to find the relevant header:

$ nix build .#doggo --print-build-logs
# ...
doggo> #include "..." search starts here:
doggo> #include <...> search starts here:
doggo>  /nix/store/q8rv03yvqsfipnxwyj0sb6lqs50y5b3q-gcc-10.2.0/lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/10.2.0/include
doggo>  /nix/store/q8rv03yvqsfipnxwyj0sb6lqs50y5b3q-gcc-10.2.0/include
doggo>  /nix/store/q8rv03yvqsfipnxwyj0sb6lqs50y5b3q-gcc-10.2.0/lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/10.2.0/include-fixed
doggo>  /nix/store/vr4977307zkjprfkivi4lgbzlvig3y9j-glibc-2.32-40-dev/include
doggo> End of search list.

Once you've found the path, you can 'nixify' it into something like this:

# This:
/nix/store/q8rv03yvqsfipnxwyj0sb6lqs50y5b3q-gcc-10.2.0/lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/10.2.0/include
# Into:
${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/gcc/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config}/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include

You'll be able to add that path in later.

What to do about it

While chatting with the clever Hazel Weakly we noticed that we could tell rust-bindgen about these CFLAGS via BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS

What we gleaned from the firefox was to add something like this to the preBuild:

rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
  preBuild = ''
    # From: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/1fab95f5190d087e66a3502481e34e15d62090aa/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix#L247-L253
    # Set C flags for Rust's bindgen program. Unlike ordinary C
    # compilation, bindgen does not invoke $CC directly. Instead it
    # uses LLVM's libclang. To make sure all necessary flags are
    # included we need to look in a few places.
    export BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS="$(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libc-crt1-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libc-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/cc-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libcxx-cxxflags) \
      ${lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isClang "-idirafter ${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/clang/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include"} \
      ${lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isGNU "-isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc} -isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config}"}
    "
  '';
}

For my additional path (stddef.h from ${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/gcc/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config}/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include) I changed the last line of the export to include it with an -idirafter flag:

# ...
${lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isGNU "-isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc} -isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config} -idirafter ${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/gcc/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config}/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include"}
# ...

Worked Example

Let's work this example to make sure it's true!

Files

Create some files in a scratch directory:

# flake.nix
{
  description = "A bindgen demo.";

  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs }:
    let
      supportedSystems = [ "x86_64-linux" "aarch64-linux" ];
      forAllSystems = f: nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems (system: f system);
    in
    {
      defaultPackage = forAllSystems (system: (import nixpkgs {
        inherit system;
        overlays = [ self.overlay ];
      }).doggo);

      overlay = final: prev: {
        doggo = final.callPackage ./. { };
      };
    };
}

# default.nix
{ lib
, rustPlatform
, stdenv
, hostPlatform
, llvmPackages
}:

let
    cargoToml = (builtins.fromTOML (builtins.readFile ./Cargo.toml));
in
rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
  pname = cargoToml.package.name;
  version = cargoToml.package.version;

  src = ./.;

  #cargoSha256 = lib.fakeSha256;
  cargoSha256 = "k7SDJdjHa5oqgi173aRZcLbBsQcc7ohJqiK7zY2HMP8=";

  LIBCLANG_PATH = "${llvmPackages.libclang}/lib";
  doCheck = false;

  preBuild = ''
    # From: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/1fab95f5190d087e66a3502481e34e15d62090aa/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix#L247-L253
    # Set C flags for Rust's bindgen program. Unlike ordinary C
    # compilation, bindgen does not invoke $CC directly. Instead it
    # uses LLVM's libclang. To make sure all necessary flags are
    # included we need to look in a few places.
    export BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS="$(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libc-crt1-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libc-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/cc-cflags) \
      $(< ${stdenv.cc}/nix-support/libcxx-cxxflags) \
      ${lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isClang "-idirafter ${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/clang/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include"} \
      ${lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isGNU "-isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc} -isystem ${stdenv.cc.cc}/include/c++/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config} -idirafter ${stdenv.cc.cc}/lib/gcc/${stdenv.hostPlatform.config}/${lib.getVersion stdenv.cc.cc}/include"} \
    "
  '';

  meta = with lib; {
    description = cargoToml.package.description;
    homepage = cargoToml.package.homepage;
    license = with licenses; [ mit ];
    maintainers = with maintainers; [ hoverbear ];
  };
}

// wrapper.h
#include "doggo.h"
#include <stdio.h>

// doggo.h
typedef struct Doggo {
    int breed;
} Doggo;

# Cargo.toml
[package]
name = "doggo"
description = "A demo."
homepage = "hoverbear.org"
version = "0.1.0"
authors = ["Ana Hobden <operator@hoverbear.org>"]
edition = "2018"

[dependencies]

[build-dependencies]
bindgen = "0.53.1"

// src/main.rs
include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"));

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world {:?}!", Doggo {
        breed: 1,
    });
}

// build.rs
extern crate bindgen;

use std::env;
use std::path::PathBuf;

fn main() {
    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h");
    let bindings = bindgen::Builder::default()
        .header("wrapper.h")
        .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks))
        .generate()
        .expect("Unable to generate bindings");
    let out_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
    bindings
        .write_to_file(out_path.join("bindings.rs"))
        .expect("Couldn't write bindings!");
}

Working output

Running nix build --print-build-logs should output something like:

$ nix build --print-build-logs --rebuild
warning: Git tree '/home/ana/scratch' is dirty
doggo> unpacking sources
doggo> unpacking source archive /nix/store/xwxksd08px6pmhxwq0wh09hsva51smf7-4bcjjs5zg4mxzhs9qrcz2rjf8ck5wvp1-source
doggo> source root is 4bcjjs5zg4mxzhs9qrcz2rjf8ck5wvp1-source
doggo> Executing cargoSetupPostUnpackHook
doggo> unpacking source archive /nix/store/isna8kr86v18plg2ln91i6n85pm2v7cw-doggo-0.1.0-vendor.tar.gz
doggo> Finished cargoSetupPostUnpackHook
doggo> patching sources
doggo> Executing cargoSetupPostPatchHook
doggo> Validating consistency between /build/4bcjjs5zg4mxzhs9qrcz2rjf8ck5wvp1-source//Cargo.lock and /build/doggo-0.1.0-vendor.tar.gz/Cargo.lock
doggo> Finished cargoSetupPostPatchHook
doggo> configuring
doggo> building
doggo> Executing cargoBuildHook
doggo> ++ env CC_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/cc CXX_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/c++ CC_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/cc CXX_x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu=/nix/store/zzvq5qwlm2xikawfqxb0q8gl2bw391a9-gcc-wrapper-10.2.0/bin/c++ cargo build -j 32 --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --frozen --release
# ...
doggo>     Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 9.44s
doggo> Executing cargoInstallPostBuildHook
doggo> Finished cargoInstallPostBuildHook
doggo> Finished cargoBuildHook
doggo> installing
doggo> Executing cargoInstallHook
doggo> Finished cargoInstallHook
doggo> post-installation fixup
doggo> shrinking RPATHs of ELF executables and libraries in /nix/store/yl3z0gaw618wmzxzn57hyx578lfi3sqz-doggo-0.1.0
doggo> shrinking /nix/store/yl3z0gaw618wmzxzn57hyx578lfi3sqz-doggo-0.1.0/bin/doggo
doggo> strip is /nix/store/5xyjd2qiily84lcv2w2grmwsb8r1hqpr-binutils-2.35.1/bin/strip
doggo> stripping (with command strip and flags -S) in /nix/store/yl3z0gaw618wmzxzn57hyx578lfi3sqz-doggo-0.1.0/bin
doggo> patching script interpreter paths in /nix/store/yl3z0gaw618wmzxzn57hyx578lfi3sqz-doggo-0.1.0
doggo> checking for references to /build/ in /nix/store/yl3z0gaw618wmzxzn57hyx578lfi3sqz-doggo-0.1.0..

Reproducing the issue

To reproduce the issue, try removing the preBuild step from the default.nix you created:

doggo>    Compiling doggo v0.1.0 (/build/kihmwg0msazwl8x84yahp73k1jn816d9-source)
doggo> error: failed to run custom build command for `doggo v0.1.0 (/build/kihmwg0msazwl8x84yahp73k1jn816d9-source)`
doggo> Caused by:
doggo>   process didn't exit successfully: `/build/kihmwg0msazwl8x84yahp73k1jn816d9-source/target/release/build/doggo-12463103eef102f1/build-script-build` (exit code: 101)
doggo>   --- stdout
doggo>   cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h
doggo>   --- stderr
doggo>   wrapper.h:2:10: fatal error: 'stdio.h' file not found
doggo>   wrapper.h:2:10: fatal error: 'stdio.h' file not found, err: true
doggo>   thread 'main' panicked at 'Unable to generate bindings: ()', build.rs:12:10
doggo>   note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
error: builder for '/nix/store/kb7rc2hv289gbd9blfviiirzmcra7cm3-doggo-0.1.0.drv' failed with exit code 101;
       last 10 log lines:
       > Caused by:
       >   process didn't exit successfully: `/build/kihmwg0msazwl8x84yahp73k1jn816d9-source/target/release/build/doggo-12463103eef102f1/build-script-build` (exit code: 101)
       >   --- stdout
       >   cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h
       >
       >   --- stderr
       >   wrapper.h:2:10: fatal error: 'stdio.h' file not found
       >   wrapper.h:2:10: fatal error: 'stdio.h' file not found, err: true
       >   thread 'main' panicked at 'Unable to generate bindings: ()', build.rs:12:10
       >   note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
       For full logs, run 'nix log /nix/store/kb7rc2hv289gbd9blfviiirzmcra7cm3-doggo-0.1.0.drv'.

If you try removing #include <stdio.h> from the wrapper.h this error will be resolved, but your program will likely want stdio.h.

Whew! That's it! Writing about this really helped me sort it out in my head better! Thanks for reading!

Using rust-bindgen in Nix

Getting things linking.

Why `rust-bindgen` fails

Missing paths from `gcc-wrapper`

Additional paths

What to do about it

Worked Example

Files

Working output

Reproducing the issue

Why rust-bindgen fails

Missing paths from gcc-wrapper

Additional paths

What to do about it

Worked Example

Files

Working output

Reproducing the issue

Why `rust-bindgen` fails

Missing paths from `gcc-wrapper`