libvhdi-nix

Warning

This repo is being archived, it was only created to use XenOrchestra on nix and now that nixpkg grabs libvhdi from it's upstream source automatically

Standalone Nix packaging for libvhdi, the libyal library and toolset for reading Virtual Hard Disk images.

This repository is kept close to nixpkgs form so default.nix can be copied to pkgs/by-name/li/libvhdi/package.nix with minimal changes.

Current upstream release: 20251119

What It Provides

• libvhdi: shared library for VHD and VHDX access
• vhdiinfo: command-line VHD/VHDX metadata inspection tool
• vhdimount: FUSE-based VHD/VHDX mounting tool

Python bindings are disabled for the initial package. Upstream libvhdi supports FUSE2 and FUSE3 as alternative configure-time backends; it does not build one vhdimount binary that links both. This flake exposes both backends as separate derivations:

• libvhdi / libvhdi-fuse3: default upstream-preferred FUSE3 build
• libvhdi-fuse2: FUSE2 compatibility build

Quick Start

Build the default FUSE3 package:

nix build .#libvhdi -L

Build a specific FUSE backend:

nix build .#libvhdi-fuse2 -L
nix build .#libvhdi-fuse3 -L

Run the installed tools:

./result/bin/vhdiinfo -V
./result/bin/vhdimount -V

Run the flake checks:

nix flake check --no-write-lock-file -L

Flake Usage

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    libvhdi.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/NiXOA/libvhdi.git";
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, libvhdi, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        {
          environment.systemPackages = [
            libvhdi.packages.x86_64-linux.libvhdi
          ];
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Outputs

• packages.x86_64-linux.libvhdi
• packages.x86_64-linux.default
• packages.x86_64-linux.libvhdi-fuse2
• packages.x86_64-linux.libvhdi-fuse3
• packages.x86_64-linux.libvhdi-test
• checks.x86_64-linux.libvhdi-fuse2
• checks.x86_64-linux.libvhdi-fuse3

The flake currently declares only x86_64-linux outputs, matching the local and CI build target for this package repository.

Development

Enter the development shell:

nix develop

Common checks:

nix develop .#default -c nixpkgs-fmt --check default.nix flake.nix
nix develop .#default -c shellcheck update.sh
nix build .#libvhdi -L
nix build .#libvhdi-fuse2 -L
nix build .#libvhdi-fuse3 -L
nix flake check --no-write-lock-file -L

The derivation enables upstream make check and patches test shebangs before the check phase. The install check verifies that libvhdi.so, vhdiinfo, and vhdimount are installed, runs both tools with -V, and confirms that vhdimount links the selected FUSE backend.

Updating

Update default.nix to the newest upstream YYYYMMDD release tag:

./update.sh

The updater:

• reads the current hardcoded version from default.nix
• finds the latest upstream release tag from libyal/libvhdi
• verifies that the release tarball exists
• prefetches the source with nix store prefetch-file
• updates the hardcoded version and hash

After an update, run:

nix develop .#default -c nixpkgs-fmt default.nix flake.nix
nix build .#libvhdi-fuse2 -L
nix build .#libvhdi-fuse3 -L
nix flake check --no-write-lock-file -L

Update Automation

The GitHub Actions workflow in .github/workflows/update-check.yml runs on a daily schedule and can also be started manually. When it sees a newer upstream libvhdi YYYYMMDD tag, it:

• reads package versions from the flake with nix eval
• runs ./update.sh, which uses Nix's built-in nix store prefetch-file
• formats and lints the package files
• builds .#libvhdi-fuse2 and .#libvhdi-fuse3
• runs nix flake check --no-write-lock-file -L
• pushes the built variant outputs to Cachix when CACHIX_CACHE_NAME and CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN are configured
• commits the updated default.nix
• creates and pushes a repository tag with the same name as the upstream tag

The workflow configures Cachix with skipPush: true before building, then calls cachix push explicitly on the built variant output paths after nix build. This avoids uploading fetched source tarballs or other store paths merely produced during the build.

The regular CI workflow also has a tag-release job, modeled after the xo-nixpkg workflow. On successful pushes to main, it verifies that the packaged YYYYMMDD version exists as an upstream libvhdi tag and creates the same tag in this repository when it is missing.

Manual runs support a dry_run option that updates, builds, and checks without pushing a Cachix path, commit, or tag.

Nixpkgs Submission

The package is intended for:

pkgs/by-name/li/libvhdi/package.nix

See docs/nixpkgs-submission.md for the full submission workflow. In a nixpkgs checkout, copy default.nix to the package path, add or reference the maintainer entry requested by nixpkgs review, and run:

nix-build -A libvhdi
nixpkgs-review wip

Repository Layout

.
├── default.nix                 # nixpkgs-style package expression
├── flake.nix                   # package outputs, checks, and dev shell
├── update.sh                   # upstream release/hash updater
├── docs/
│   ├── development.md
│   └── nixpkgs-submission.md
└── README.md

License

This packaging repository is Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.

Upstream libvhdi is LGPL-3.0-or-later.

Maintainer

• Dale Morgan, @declarative-dale