raspi-utils: init at 0-unstable-2025-10-02#449925

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GiggleSquid wants to merge 1 commit intoNixOS:masterfrom

GiggleSquid:pkgs-raspi-utils

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GiggleSquid commented Oct 8, 2025 •

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Part of #449772

Adds raspi-utils, a replacement for libraspberrypi.

The rpi userland repo was archived 2025-07-27: https://github.com/raspberrypi/userland
This contained mostly proprietary VideoCore APIs (alongside rpi hardware tools).

Other rpi hardware tools were moved to the utils repo: https://github.com/raspberrypi/utils

After 25.11 libraspberrypi will be deprecated in favor of raspi-utils

@dezgeg @tkerber Please let me know if you wish to be maintainers for this package as your were both maintainers for libraspberrypi.

@SFrijters Please let me know if you wish to be a maintainer as well, as this was mostly your idea.

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nixpkgs-ci bot added 10.rebuild-linux: 1-10 10.rebuild-darwin: 0 10.rebuild-linux: 1 labels

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GiggleSquid commented Oct 8, 2025

`nixpkgs-review` result

Generated using nixpkgs-review.

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 449925
Commit: 06017cc949f43337423bb867338adf4b2fd4ea1d

`x86_64-linux`

✅ 1 package built:

raspi-utils

GiggleSquid added the 8.has: package (new) label

GiggleSquid marked this pull request as ready for review

October 8, 2025 13:21

nixpkgs-ci bot added the 9.needs: reviewer label

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SFrijters commented Oct 8, 2025

`nixpkgs-review` result

Generated using nixpkgs-review.

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 449925
Commit: 06017cc949f43337423bb867338adf4b2fd4ea1d

`x86_64-linux`

✅ 1 package built:

raspi-utils

`aarch64-linux`

✅ 1 package built:

raspi-utils

SFrijters suggested changes

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SFrijters requested review from dezgeg and tkerber

October 8, 2025 14:24

nixpkgs-ci bot removed the 9.needs: reviewer label

RossSmyth suggested changes

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RossSmyth left a comment

Good start, but most of these utilities wouldn't be usable on all systems. Needs:

provide executable in buildInput to patch shebangs of some of the executables so they run at all on NixOS
Patch the locations of executables to the nix store
Either optionally or unconditoinally add gnutls so the crypto util can be build
Add dtc to build inputs so libfdt can be accessed.

pkgs/by-name/ra/raspi-utils/package.nix Show resolved Hide resolved

pkgs/by-name/ra/raspi-utils/package.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

pkgs/by-name/ra/raspi-utils/package.nix

+                  (lib.cmakeBool "ARM64" stdenv.hostPlatform.isAarch64)
+                  (lib.cmakeFeature "CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX" "${placeholder "out"}")
+                ];

Contributor

RossSmyth Oct 8, 2025

Or double-check that it is installed in the correct (for Nixpkgs) location.

Suggested change

      
                installShellCompletion --cmd vcgencmd \
          
                  vcgencmd/vcgencmd-completion.bash
          
              '';

Contributor Author

GiggleSquid Oct 9, 2025

I've worked on all the other suggestions, but you'll have to forgive me, I don't understand this one.

Could you explain it a bit more please?

Member

SFrijters Oct 9, 2025

The completions for pinctrl and vcgencmd end up in share/bash-completion/completions/ (which is correct), but they don't have a .bash extension - is that okay?

Contributor

RossSmyth Oct 9, 2025

I'm not completely sure, the file will end up in the /run/current-system/etc/bash-completion directory, but will bash still use it without an extension? If so then seems fine to me.

pkgs/by-name/ra/raspi-utils/package.nix Show resolved Hide resolved

pkgs/by-name/ra/raspi-utils/package.nix

+                  rev = "9f61b87db715fe9729305e242de8412d8db4153c";
+                  hash = "sha256-LAEAjxb6+lQKo2VUknkuZa5sK37k6SjF+imj/7qyOe4=";
+                };

Contributor

RossSmyth Oct 8, 2025

There are several places that need patching to access dtc correctly. kdtc, dtmerge, and overlaycheck (possibly).

Contributor Author

GiggleSquid Oct 9, 2025

Would you (or @SFrijters) be able to test this for me? I don't currently have the appropriate machines spare to test myself.

I've only gone so far as to simply execute the binaries once.

Member

SFrijters Oct 9, 2025

I'm doing some testing at the moment, adding @RossSmyth 's suggestions.

Would patching be preferred over wrapProgram? It looks like overlaycheck is doing some more complicated stuff so patching may be needed anyway, but kdtc is just calling 'dtc', so if it's on the PATH that could be enough?

Contributor

RossSmyth Oct 9, 2025

I generally preferring patching but if there is a lot of stuff to patch then don't waste your time and just wrap (use makeBinaryWrapper)

Member

SFrijters commented Oct 9, 2025

raspinfo tries to run a bunch of stuff (after adding bashNonInteractive to buildInputs, allowing the shebang to be patched):

<redacted>/result/bin/raspinfo: line 196: apt-cache: command not found
<redacted>/result/bin/raspinfo: line 208: ifconfig: command not found
<redacted>/result/bin/raspinfo: line 215: lsusb: command not found
<redacted>/result/bin/raspinfo: line 137: aplay: command not found

Maybe more after it asked for sudo and I aborted it.

Member

SFrijters commented Oct 9, 2025

overlaycheck and kdtc also want a cpp compiler at runtime.

Member

SFrijters commented Oct 9, 2025 •

edited

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Getting aggravated with the slow Pi and testing cycle for now, feel free to take inspiration from my WIP fixup commit at https://github.com/SFrijters/nixpkgs/tree/raspi-utils .


          raspi-utils: init at 0-unstable-2025-10-02

a87ef10

GiggleSquid force-pushed the pkgs-raspi-utils branch from 06017cc to a87ef10 Compare

October 9, 2025 11:53

Contributor Author

GiggleSquid commented Oct 9, 2025

I've pushed to get some of the suggestions closed.

Seems this will definitely be more complex than I initially thought!

But it does need to be done right. And I suspect this will continue to require more testing and iteration

Contributor

RossSmyth commented Oct 9, 2025

raspinfo tries to run a bunch of stuff (after adding bashNonInteractive to buildInputs, allowing the shebang to be patched):

Hm maybe just not package that utility? Seems pretty raspbian-specific since if you are running NixOS on your pi then you may not be using sudo or apt.

GiggleSquid mentioned this pull request

libraspberrypi: 0-unstable-2022-06-16 -> 0-unstable-2024-12-23 #449772

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13 tasks

Member

SFrijters commented Oct 12, 2025

I made another commit to https://github.com/SFrijters/nixpkgs/tree/raspi-utils which uses a patch / replaceVars approach. I skimmed through the source files and hopefully caught most of them.

Remaining problem: the current implementation does not work because of infinite recursion - is it possible to defer to the $out path inside replaceVars somehow?

which seems to be used only to check that a command exists, so maybe we can use command -v instead and drop that dependency entirely. I'm not sure if git is ever on an active code path for us.

Contributor

RossSmyth commented Oct 12, 2025 •

edited

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is it possible to defer to the $out path inside replaceVars somehow?

No, but you can use placeholder "out"

Member

SFrijters commented Oct 13, 2025

@RossSmyth Right, thanks, I knew there was something I was forgetting. In this case though it seems I have to jump through an additional hoop - it works but a pointer to a cleaner way would be appreciated.

@GiggleSquid Other than that, my branch so far is my best effort at finding and patching the paths to external executables - I've never used the new executables for anything myself, so maybe I missed a code path somewhere.

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Reviewers

dezgeg Awaiting requested review from dezgeg

tkerber Awaiting requested review from tkerber

2 more reviewers

SFrijters SFrijters requested changes

RossSmyth RossSmyth requested changes

Labels

8.has: package (new) 10.rebuild-darwin: 0 10.rebuild-linux: 1-10 10.rebuild-linux: 1