Files
home-manager/modules/files.nix
Robert Helgesson 709c2320fa home-manager: optionally use putter for file management
The Putter tool is a Rust implementation of the file management
component of Home Manager. It takes a JSON manifest that indicates how
files should be symlinked and when the manifest is applied, does its
best to ensure that the file system reflect the manifest.

Putter offers some additional features that Home Manager does not
expose today, such as file copying (potentially recursive) and support
for overriding files within a recursive tree (e.g., inside a symlinked
tree one could ensure that a specific file is copies with specific
permissions).

This is considered highly experimental at the moment and to use Putter
one must set a hidden option.
2026-05-29 20:20:59 +02:00

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{
pkgs,
config,
lib,
...
}:
let
cfg =
let
allFiles = lib.attrValues config.home.file;
enabledFiles = lib.filter (f: f.enable) allFiles;
# We sort to ascending target path length. This ensures that a directory
# end up earlier in the list so that we can more easily detect when
# another file is placed inside this directory.
#
# Specifically, we want to detect two cases:
#
# - A directory is symlinked to the target, attempting to place a file
# inside this directory is an error since it would entail modifying the
# source directory.
#
# - A directory is recursively symlinked to the target, attempting to
# place a file inside this directory is allowed. If the placed file
# overlaps with a path from the recursively symlinked directory it will
# override the one from the directory.
sortedFiles = lib.lists.sortOn (f: lib.stringLength f.target) enabledFiles;
in
sortedFiles;
inherit (config.home) fileOverlapResolution homeDirectory;
inherit
(
(import ./lib/file-type.nix {
inherit homeDirectory lib pkgs;
})
)
fileType
;
sourceStorePath =
file:
let
sourcePath = toString file.source;
sourceName = config.lib.strings.storeFileName (baseNameOf sourcePath);
in
if builtins.hasContext sourcePath then
file.source
else
builtins.path {
path = file.source;
name = sourceName;
};
putterStatePath = "${config.xdg.stateHome}/home-manager/putter-state.json";
in
{
options = {
home.file = lib.mkOption {
description = "Attribute set of files to link into the user home.";
default = { };
type = fileType "home.file" "{env}`HOME`" homeDirectory;
};
home.fileOverlapResolution = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.enum [
"ignore"
"error"
"override"
];
default = "ignore";
visible = false;
description = ''
Determines how to handle a conflict between a file occurring due to
recursive symlinking and regular symlinking.
The default, "ignore", is the one most closely matching the legacy
behavior. It keeps the recursively linked file and ignores the regularly
symlinked one. The "error" alternative causes the `file-files` build to
error out. The "override" alternative replaces the recursively linked
file by the regularly linked one.
This option should be considered experimental and is therefore hidden
from documentation at this time.
'';
};
home.fileActivator = lib.mkOption {
type =
with lib.types;
enum [
"legacy"
"putter"
];
default = "legacy";
example = "putter";
visible = false;
description = ''
The tooling to use to place files during activation.
The legacy option (currently the default) is the built-in tooling that
is very robust, but is limited in future potential.
The putter option is a new external tool that may replace the legacy
alternative in the future. It is not as hardened as the legacy
alternative but will allow future features such as file copying.
This option should be considered experimental and is therefore hidden
from documentation at this time.
'';
};
home-files = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.package;
internal = true;
description = "Package to contain all home files";
};
home.internal = {
filePutterConfig = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.package;
internal = true;
description = "Putter configuration.";
};
};
};
config = {
assertions = [
(
let
dups = lib.attrNames (
lib.filterAttrs (_n: v: v > 1) (
lib.foldAttrs (acc: v: acc + v) 0 (map (v: { ${v.target} = 1; }) cfg)
)
);
dupsStr = lib.concatStringsSep ", " dups;
in
{
assertion = dups == [ ];
message = ''
Conflicting managed target files: ${dupsStr}
This may happen, for example, if you have a configuration similar to
home.file = {
conflict1 = { source = ./foo.nix; target = "baz"; };
conflict2 = { source = ./bar.nix; target = "baz"; };
}'';
}
)
];
# Using this function it is possible to make `home.file` create a
# symlink to a path outside the Nix store. For example, a Home Manager
# configuration containing
#
# `home.file."foo".source = config.lib.file.mkOutOfStoreSymlink ./bar;`
#
# would upon activation create a symlink `~/foo` that points to the
# absolute path of the `bar` file relative the configuration file.
lib.file.mkOutOfStoreSymlink =
path:
let
pathStr = toString path;
name = lib.hm.strings.storeFileName (baseNameOf pathStr);
in
pkgs.runCommandLocal name { } "ln -s ${lib.escapeShellArg pathStr} $out";
# This verifies that the links we are about to create will not
# overwrite an existing file.
home.activation.checkLinkTargets = lib.hm.dag.entryBefore [ "writeBoundary" ] (
let
# Paths that should be forcibly overwritten by Home Manager.
# Caveat emptor!
forcedPaths = lib.concatMapStringsSep " " (p: ''"$HOME"/${lib.escapeShellArg p}'') (
map (v: v.target) (lib.filter (v: v.force) cfg)
);
storeDir = lib.escapeShellArg builtins.storeDir;
legacyCheckScript = pkgs.replaceVars ./files/check-link-targets.sh {
inherit (config.lib.bash) initHomeManagerLib;
inherit forcedPaths storeDir;
};
legacyCheckLinkTargets = ''
function checkNewGenCollision() {
local newGenFiles
newGenFiles="$(readlink -e "$newGenPath/home-files")"
find "$newGenFiles" \( -type f -or -type l \) \
-exec bash ${legacyCheckScript} "$newGenFiles" {} +
}
checkNewGenCollision || exit 1
'';
putterCheckLinkTargets = ''
${lib.getExe pkgs.putter} check $VERBOSE_ARG \
--state-file "${putterStatePath}" \
${config.home.internal.filePutterConfig}
'';
in
if config.home.fileActivator == "putter" then putterCheckLinkTargets else legacyCheckLinkTargets
);
# This activation script will
#
# 1. Remove files from the old generation that are not in the new
# generation.
#
# 2. Symlink files from the new generation into $HOME.
#
# This order is needed to ensure that we always know which links
# belong to which generation. Specifically, if we're moving from
# generation A to generation B having sets of home file links FA
# and FB, respectively then cleaning before linking produces state
# transitions similar to
#
# FA → FA ∩ FB → (FA ∩ FB) FB = FB
#
# and a failure during the intermediate state FA ∩ FB will not
# result in lost links because this set of links are in both the
# source and target generation.
home.activation.linkGeneration = lib.hm.dag.entryAfter [ "writeBoundary" ] (
let
storeDir = lib.escapeShellArg builtins.storeDir;
legacyLink = pkgs.writeShellScript "link" ''
${config.lib.bash.initHomeManagerLib}
newGenFiles="$1"
shift
for sourcePath in "$@" ; do
relativePath="''${sourcePath#$newGenFiles/}"
targetPath="$HOME/$relativePath"
if [[ -e "$targetPath" && ! -L "$targetPath" ]] ; then
if [[ -n "$HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_COMMAND" ]] ; then
verboseEcho "Running $HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_COMMAND $targetPath."
run $HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_COMMAND "$targetPath" || errorEcho "Running `$HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_COMMAND` on '$targetPath' failed."
elif [[ -n "$HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_EXT" ]] ; then
# The target exists, back it up
backup="$targetPath.$HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_EXT"
if [[ -e "$backup" && -n "$HOME_MANAGER_BACKUP_OVERWRITE" ]]; then
run rm $VERBOSE_ARG "$backup"
fi
run mv $VERBOSE_ARG "$targetPath" "$backup" || errorEcho "Moving '$targetPath' failed!"
fi
fi
if [[ -e "$targetPath" && ! -L "$targetPath" ]] && cmp -s "$sourcePath" "$targetPath" ; then
# The target exists but is identical don't do anything.
verboseEcho "Skipping '$targetPath' as it is identical to '$sourcePath'"
else
# Place that symlink, --force
# This can still fail if the target is a directory, in which case we bail out.
run mkdir -p $VERBOSE_ARG "$(dirname "$targetPath")"
run ln -Tsf $VERBOSE_ARG "$sourcePath" "$targetPath" || exit 1
fi
done
'';
legacyCleanup = pkgs.writeShellScript "cleanup" ''
${config.lib.bash.initHomeManagerLib}
# A symbolic link whose target path matches this pattern will be
# considered part of a Home Manager generation.
homeFilePattern="$(readlink -e ${storeDir})/*-home-manager-files/*"
newGenFiles="$1"
shift 1
for relativePath in "$@" ; do
targetPath="$HOME/$relativePath"
if [[ -e "$newGenFiles/$relativePath" ]] ; then
verboseEcho "Checking $targetPath: exists"
elif [[ ! "$(readlink "$targetPath")" == $homeFilePattern ]] ; then
warnEcho "Path '$targetPath' does not link into a Home Manager generation. Skipping delete."
else
verboseEcho "Checking $targetPath: gone (deleting)"
run rm $VERBOSE_ARG "$targetPath"
# Recursively delete empty parent directories.
targetDir="$(dirname "$relativePath")"
if [[ "$targetDir" != "." ]] ; then
pushd "$HOME" > /dev/null
# Call rmdir with a relative path excluding $HOME.
# Otherwise, it might try to delete $HOME and exit
# with a permission error.
run rmdir $VERBOSE_ARG \
-p --ignore-fail-on-non-empty \
"$targetDir"
popd > /dev/null
fi
fi
done
'';
# If Putter is not enabled, then generate a fake state file to allow
# switching to Putter in the future.
putterCompatState =
let
putter = import ./lib/putter.nix { inherit lib; };
manifest = putter.mkPutterCompatState {
sourceBaseDirectory = config.home-files;
targetBaseDirectory = config.home.homeDirectory;
fileEntries = cfg;
};
in
pkgs.writeText "hm-putter-state.json" manifest;
# This activation script will
#
# 1. Remove files from the old generation that are not in the new
# generation.
#
# 2. Symlink files from the new generation into $HOME.
#
# This order is needed to ensure that we always know which links
# belong to which generation. Specifically, if we're moving from
# generation A to generation B having sets of home file links FA
# and FB, respectively then cleaning before linking produces state
# transitions similar to
#
# FA → FA ∩ FB → (FA ∩ FB) FB = FB
#
# and a failure during the intermediate state FA ∩ FB will not
# result in lost links because this set of links are in both the
# source and target generation.
legacyLinkGeneration = ''
function linkNewGen() {
_i "Creating home file links in %s" "$HOME"
local newGenFiles
newGenFiles="$(readlink -e "$newGenPath/home-files")"
find "$newGenFiles" \( -type f -or -type l \) \
-exec bash ${legacyLink} "$newGenFiles" {} +
# Copy in the Putter compatible state file. This is to allow a later
# switchover to Putter.
run install -Dp -m600 $VERBOSE_ARG ${putterCompatState} ${putterStatePath}
}
function cleanOldGen() {
if [[ ! -v oldGenPath || ! -e "$oldGenPath/home-files" ]] ; then
return
fi
_i "Cleaning up orphan links from %s" "$HOME"
local newGenFiles oldGenFiles
newGenFiles="$(readlink -e "$newGenPath/home-files")"
oldGenFiles="$(readlink -e "$oldGenPath/home-files")"
# Apply the cleanup script on each leaf in the old
# generation. The find command below will print the
# relative path of the entry.
find "$oldGenFiles" '(' -type f -or -type l ')' -printf '%P\0' \
| xargs -0 bash ${legacyCleanup} "$newGenFiles"
}
cleanOldGen
linkNewGen
'';
putterLinkGeneration = ''
${lib.getExe pkgs.putter} apply $VERBOSE_ARG ''${DRY_RUN:+--dry-run} \
--state-file "${putterStatePath}" \
${config.home.internal.filePutterConfig}
'';
in
if config.home.fileActivator == "putter" then putterLinkGeneration else legacyLinkGeneration
);
home.activation.checkFilesChanged = lib.hm.dag.entryBefore [ "linkGeneration" ] (
let
homeDirArg = lib.escapeShellArg homeDirectory;
in
''
function _cmp() {
if [[ -d $1 && -d $2 ]]; then
diff -rq "$1" "$2" &> /dev/null
else
cmp --quiet "$1" "$2"
fi
}
declare -A changedFiles
''
+ lib.concatMapStrings (
v:
let
sourceArg = lib.escapeShellArg (sourceStorePath v);
targetArg = lib.escapeShellArg v.target;
in
''
_cmp ${sourceArg} ${homeDirArg}/${targetArg} \
&& changedFiles[${targetArg}]=0 \
|| changedFiles[${targetArg}]=1
''
) (lib.filter (v: v.onChange != "") cfg)
+ ''
unset -f _cmp
''
);
home.activation.onFilesChange = lib.hm.dag.entryAfter [ "linkGeneration" ] (
lib.concatMapStrings (v: ''
if (( ''${changedFiles[${lib.escapeShellArg v.target}]} == 1 )); then
if [[ -v DRY_RUN || -v VERBOSE ]]; then
echo "Running onChange hook for" ${lib.escapeShellArg v.target}
fi
if [[ ! -v DRY_RUN ]]; then
${v.onChange}
fi
fi
'') (lib.filter (v: v.onChange != "") cfg)
);
home.internal.filePutterConfig =
let
putter = import ./lib/putter.nix { inherit lib; };
manifest = putter.mkPutterManifest {
inherit putterStatePath;
sourceBaseDirectory = config.home-files;
targetBaseDirectory = config.home.homeDirectory;
fileEntries = cfg;
};
in
pkgs.writeText "hm-putter.json" manifest;
# Symlink directories and files that have the right execute bit.
# Copy files that need their execute bit changed.
home-files =
pkgs.runCommandLocal "home-manager-files"
{
nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgs.lndir ];
}
(
''
mkdir -p $out
# Needed in case /nix is a symbolic link.
realOut="$(realpath -m "$out")"
# An associative array of previously handled target paths. This is
# the path handled for the declared file in home.file. That is, if a
# file has been specified as recursive, then this array will only
# contain the recursion root, not the visited files.
declare -A seenTargets
function insertFile() {
local source="$1"
local relTarget="$2"
local executable="$3"
local recursive="$4"
local ignorelinks="$5"
# If the target has already been seen then we have a collision. Note, this
# should not happen due to the assertion found in the 'files' module.
# We therefore simply log the conflict and otherwise ignore it,
# mainly to make the `files-target-conflict` test work as expected.
if [[ ''${seenTargets["$relTarget"]} ]]; then
echo "File conflict for file '$relTarget'" >&2
return
fi
# If the path already exists as a non-directory, then we are
# conflicting with a file from a recursively linked directory. Log
# this fact and error out the build.
if [[ -e "$realOut/$relTarget" && ! -d "$realOut/$relTarget" ]]; then
echo "$relTarget conflicts with recursively symlinked file" >&2
${
if fileOverlapResolution == "ignore" then
"return"
else if fileOverlapResolution == "error" then
"exit 1"
else if fileOverlapResolution == "override" then
''rm "$realOut/$relTarget"''
else
abort ''Unknown file resolution overlap "${fileOverlapResolution}"''
}
fi
# Record that we have seen this target file.
seenTargets["$relTarget"]=1
# Figure out the real absolute path to the target.
local target
target="$(realpath -m "$realOut/$relTarget")"
# Target path must be within $HOME.
if [[ ! $target == $realOut* ]] ; then
echo "Error installing file '$relTarget' outside \$HOME" >&2
exit 1
fi
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$target")"
if [[ -d $source ]]; then
if [[ $recursive ]]; then
mkdir -p "$target"
if [[ $ignorelinks ]]; then
lndir -silent -ignorelinks "$source" "$target"
else
lndir -silent "$source" "$target"
fi
else
ln -s "$source" "$target"
fi
else
[[ -x $source ]] && isExecutable=1 || isExecutable=""
# Link the file into the home file directory if possible,
# i.e., if the executable bit of the source is the same we
# expect for the target. Otherwise, we copy the file and
# set the executable bit to the expected value.
if [[ $executable == inherit || $isExecutable == $executable ]]; then
ln -s "$source" "$target"
else
cp "$source" "$target"
if [[ $executable == inherit ]]; then
# Don't change file mode if it should match the source.
:
elif [[ $executable ]]; then
chmod +x "$target"
else
chmod -x "$target"
fi
fi
fi
}
''
+ lib.concatStrings (
map (v: ''
insertFile ${
lib.escapeShellArgs [
(sourceStorePath v)
v.target
(if v.executable == null then "inherit" else toString v.executable)
(toString v.recursive)
(toString v.ignorelinks)
]
}
'') cfg
)
);
};
}