<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xml:id="chap-diff-hook"
version="5.0"
>
<title>Verifying Build Reproducibility with <option linkend="conf-diff-hook">diff-hook</option></title>
<subtitle>Check build reproducibility by running builds multiple times
and comparing their results.</subtitle>
<para>Specify a program with Nix's <xref linkend="conf-diff-hook" /> to
compare build results when two builds produce different results. Note:
this hook is only executed if the results are not the same, this hook
is not used for determining if the results are the same.</para>
<para>For purposes of demonstration, we'll use the following Nix file,
<filename>deterministic.nix</filename> for testing:</para>
<programlisting>
let
inherit (import <nixpkgs> {}) runCommand;
in {
stable = runCommand "stable" {} ''
touch $out
'';
unstable = runCommand "unstable" {} ''
echo $RANDOM > $out
'';
}
</programlisting>
<para>Additionally, <filename>nix.conf</filename> contains:
<programlisting>
diff-hook = /etc/nix/my-diff-hook
run-diff-hook = true
</programlisting>
where <filename>/etc/nix/my-diff-hook</filename> is an executable
file containing:
<programlisting>
#!/bin/sh
exec >&2
echo "For derivation $3:"
/run/current-system/sw/bin/diff -r "$1" "$2"
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>The diff hook is executed by the same user and group who ran the
build. However, the diff hook does not have write access to the store
path just built.</para>
<section>
<title>
Spot-Checking Build Determinism
</title>
<para>
Verify a path which already exists in the Nix store by passing
<option>--check</option> to the build command.
</para>
<para>If the build passes and is deterministic, Nix will exit with a
status code of 0:</para>
<screen>
$ nix-build ./deterministic.nix -A stable
these derivations will be built:
/nix/store/z98fasz2jqy9gs0xbvdj939p27jwda38-stable.drv
building '/nix/store/z98fasz2jqy9gs0xbvdj939p27jwda38-stable.drv'...
/nix/store/yyxlzw3vqaas7wfp04g0b1xg51f2czgq-stable
$ nix-build ./deterministic.nix -A stable --check
checking outputs of '/nix/store/z98fasz2jqy9gs0xbvdj939p27jwda38-stable.drv'...
/nix/store/yyxlzw3vqaas7wfp04g0b1xg51f2czgq-stable
</screen>
<para>If the build is not deterministic, Nix will exit with a status
code of 1:</para>
<screen>
$ nix-build ./deterministic.nix -A unstable
these derivations will be built:
/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv
building '/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv'...
/nix/store/krpqk0l9ib0ibi1d2w52z293zw455cap-unstable
$ nix-build ./deterministic.nix -A unstable --check
checking outputs of '/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv'...
error: derivation '/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv' may not be deterministic: output '/nix/store/krpqk0l9ib0ibi1d2w52z293zw455cap-unstable' differs
</screen>
<para>In the Nix daemon's log, we will now see:
<screen>
For derivation /nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv:
1c1
< 8108
---
> 30204
</screen>
</para>
<para>Using <option>--check</option> with <option>--keep-failed</option>
will cause Nix to keep the second build's output in a special,
<literal>.check</literal> path:</para>
<screen>
$ nix-build ./deterministic.nix -A unstable --check --keep-failed
checking outputs of '/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv'...
note: keeping build directory '/tmp/nix-build-unstable.drv-0'
error: derivation '/nix/store/cgl13lbj1w368r5z8gywipl1ifli7dhk-unstable.drv' may not be deterministic: output '/nix/store/krpqk0l9ib0ibi1d2w52z293zw455cap-unstable' differs from '/nix/store/krpqk0l9ib0ibi1d2w52z293zw455cap-unstable.check'
</screen>
<para>In particular, notice the
<literal>/nix/store/krpqk0l9ib0ibi1d2w52z293zw455cap-unstable.check</literal>
output. Nix has copied the build results to that directory where you
can examine it.</para>
<note xml:id="check-dirs-are-unregistered">
<title><literal>.check</literal> paths are not registered store paths</title>
<para>Check paths are not protected against garbage collection,
and this path will be deleted on the next garbage collection.</para>
<para>The path is guaranteed to be alive for the duration of
<xref linkend="conf-diff-hook" />'s execution, but may be deleted
any time after.</para>
<para>If the comparison is performed as part of automated tooling,
please use the diff-hook or author your tooling to handle the case
where the build was not deterministic and also a check path does
not exist.</para>
</note>
<para>
<option>--check</option> is only usable if the derivation has
been built on the system already. If the derivation has not been
built Nix will fail with the error:
<screen>
error: some outputs of '/nix/store/hzi1h60z2qf0nb85iwnpvrai3j2w7rr6-unstable.drv' are not valid, so checking is not possible
</screen>
Run the build without <option>--check</option>, and then try with
<option>--check</option> again.
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>
Automatic and Optionally Enforced Determinism Verification
</title>
<para>
Automatically verify every build at build time by executing the
build multiple times.
</para>
<para>
Setting <xref linkend="conf-repeat" /> and
<xref linkend="conf-enforce-determinism" /> in your
<filename>nix.conf</filename> permits the automated verification
of every build Nix performs.
</para>
<para>
The following configuration will run each build three times, and
will require the build to be deterministic:
<programlisting>
enforce-determinism = true
repeat = 2
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
Setting <xref linkend="conf-enforce-determinism" /> to false as in
the following configuration will run the build multiple times,
execute the build hook, but will allow the build to succeed even
if it does not build reproducibly:
<programlisting>
enforce-determinism = false
repeat = 1
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
An example output of this configuration:
<screen>
$ nix-build ./test.nix -A unstable
these derivations will be built:
/nix/store/ch6llwpr2h8c3jmnf3f2ghkhx59aa97f-unstable.drv
building '/nix/store/ch6llwpr2h8c3jmnf3f2ghkhx59aa97f-unstable.drv' (round 1/2)...
building '/nix/store/ch6llwpr2h8c3jmnf3f2ghkhx59aa97f-unstable.drv' (round 2/2)...
output '/nix/store/6xg356v9gl03hpbbg8gws77n19qanh02-unstable' of '/nix/store/ch6llwpr2h8c3jmnf3f2ghkhx59aa97f-unstable.drv' differs from '/nix/store/6xg356v9gl03hpbbg8gws77n19qanh02-unstable.check' from previous round
/nix/store/6xg356v9gl03hpbbg8gws77n19qanh02-unstable
</screen>
</para>
</section>
</chapter>
