Devbox does not pull *-dev outputs into build environment (headers missing)

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  • ¿Algo no está bien?
#2,761 3 comentarios 1 reacción 0 asignados Ver en GitHub

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Evaluación

Dificultad
4/5
Tiempo estimado
3-5 días
Aptitud para principiantes
55/100
Tipo de issue
Error
Claridad
Bastante claro
Estado de actividad
Activo
Stack tecnológico
go
Área
build-system, developer-experience

Línea de trabajo

The report identifies package handling in Devbox environments but names no source files or tests. Start by tracing how packages such as libyaml are turned into shell build inputs, then compare that behavior with the described nix-shell semantics. Done means the reproduction with devbox add libyaml gcc makes yaml.h available without manually adding libyaml.dev; add or run relevant tests if you locate them.

Escrito por el modelo de indexación a partir del texto del issue.

Descripción

bug looks hard p2 processed triage
What happened?

When using nix-shell / nix develop, adding a library package implicitly makes its headers available via the dev output (through normal buildInputs semantics).

Devbox does not do this. As a result, headers are missing unless the user manually adds <package>.dev.

This breaks common C/C++ expectations and makes Devbox environments subtly incomplete compared to standard Nix shells.

Expected result

yaml.h should be available automatically, as it is in nix-shell / nix develop when adding libyaml.

Actual result

Compilation fails because headers are missing:

main.c:1:10: fatal error: yaml.h: No such file or directory
Workaround

Manually add the dev output:

devbox add libyaml.dev

After this, compilation succeeds.

Why this is a problem
  • In nixpkgs, headers live in the dev output by design.
  • nix-shell users reasonably expect headers to be present when a library is added.
  • Devbox requires users to know about and manually add output-specific derivations, which defeats the abstraction Devbox aims to provide.
  • This is especially painful for newcomers unfamiliar with outputs = [ "out" "dev" ].
Suggested fix

Devbox should automatically include the dev output for library packages (or at least for packages commonly used as build dependencies), matching nix-shell / mkShell behavior.

At minimum, this behavior should be documented very clearly.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Initialize devbox:

    devbox init

  2. Add packages:

    devbox add libyaml gcc

  3. Create a test file:

    echo '#include <yaml.h>
void main(){}' > main.c

  4. Enter shell:

    devbox shell

  5. Compile:

    gcc main.c
Command
devbox add libyaml
devbox.json

Without workaround

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetify-com/devbox/0.16.0/.schema/devbox.schema.json",
  "packages": [
    "libyaml@latest"
  ],
  "shell": {
    "init_hook": [
      "echo 'Welcome to devbox!' > /dev/null"
    ],
    "scripts": {
      "test": [
        "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
      ]
    }
  }
}

With workaround (devbox add libyaml.dev)

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetify-com/devbox/0.16.0/.schema/devbox.schema.json",
  "packages": [
    "libyaml@latest",
    "libyaml.dev"
  ],
  "shell": {
    "init_hook": [
      "echo 'Welcome to devbox!' > /dev/null"
    ],
    "scripts": {
      "test": [
        "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
      ]
    }
  }
}
Devbox version
0.16.0
Nix version
nix (Nix) 2.31.2+2
What system does this bug occur on?

Linux (x86_64)

Debug logs

No response

Lenguaje dominante
Go
Estrellas
12.4k
Forks
358
Merge medio
17 h 12 min
PR fusionados (30 d)
31

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