lib.types.attrsWith: add placeholder parameter

lib/options.nix

@@ -420,20 +420,17 @@ rec {
      Placeholders will not be quoted as they are not actual values:
        (showOption ["foo" "*" "bar"]) == "foo.*.bar"
        (showOption ["foo" "<name>" "bar"]) == "foo.<name>.bar"
+       (showOption ["foo" "<myPlaceholder>" "bar"]) == "foo.<myPlaceholder>.bar"
   */
   showOption = parts: let
+    # If the part is a named placeholder of the form "<...>" don't escape it.
+    # It may cause misleading escaping if somebody uses literally "<...>" in their option names.
+    # This is the trade-off to allow for placeholders in option names.
+    isNamedPlaceholder = builtins.match "\<(.*)\>";
     escapeOptionPart = part:
-      let
-        # We assume that these are "special values" and not real configuration data.
-        # If it is real configuration data, it is rendered incorrectly.
-        specialIdentifiers = [
-          "<name>"          # attrsOf (submodule {})
-          "*"               # listOf (submodule {})
-          "<function body>" # functionTo
-        ];
-      in if builtins.elem part specialIdentifiers
-         then part
-         else lib.strings.escapeNixIdentifier part;
+      if part == "*" || isNamedPlaceholder part != null
+        then part
+        else lib.strings.escapeNixIdentifier part;
     in (concatStringsSep ".") (map escapeOptionPart parts);
   showFiles = files: concatStringsSep " and " (map (f: "`${f}'") files);
 

lib/tests/misc.nix

@@ -1877,6 +1877,44 @@ runTests {
     expected = [ [ "_module" "args" ] [ "foo" ] [ "foo" "<name>" "bar" ] [ "foo" "bar" ] ];
   };
 
+  testAttrsWithName = {
+    expr = let
+      eval =  evalModules {
+        modules = [
+          {
+            options = {
+              foo = lib.mkOption {
+                type = lib.types.attrsWith {
+                  placeholder = "MyCustomPlaceholder";
+                  elemType = lib.types.submodule {
+                    options.bar = lib.mkOption {
+                      type = lib.types.int;
+                      default = 42;
+                    };
+                  };
+                };
+              };
+            };
+          }
+        ];
+      };
+      opt = eval.options.foo;
+    in
+      (opt.type.getSubOptions opt.loc).bar.loc;
+    expected = [
+      "foo"
+      "<MyCustomPlaceholder>"
+      "bar"
+    ];
+  };
+
+  testShowOptionWithPlaceholder = {
+    # <name>, *, should now be escaped. It is used as a placeholder by convention.
+    # Other symbols should be escaped. `{}`
+    expr = lib.showOption ["<name>" "<myName>" "*" "{foo}"];
+    expected = "<name>.<myName>.*.\"{foo}\"";
+  };
+
   testCartesianProductOfEmptySet = {
     expr = cartesianProduct {};
     expected = [ {} ];

lib/tests/modules.sh

@@ -391,6 +391,10 @@ checkConfigError 'The option `mergedLazyNonLazy'\'' in `.*'\'' is already declar
 checkConfigOutput '^11$' config.lazyResult ./lazy-attrsWith.nix
 checkConfigError 'infinite recursion encountered' config.nonLazyResult ./lazy-attrsWith.nix
 
+# AttrsWith placeholder tests
+checkConfigOutput '^"mergedName.<id>.nested"$' config.result ./name-merge-attrsWith-1.nix
+checkConfigError 'The option .mergedName. in .*\.nix. is already declared in .*\.nix' config.mergedName ./name-merge-attrsWith-2.nix
+
 # Even with multiple assignments, a type error should be thrown if any of them aren't valid
 checkConfigError 'A definition for option .* is not of type .*' \
   config.value ./declare-int-unsigned-value.nix ./define-value-list.nix ./define-value-int-positive.nix

lib/tests/modules/name-merge-attrsWith-1.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+let
+  inherit (lib) types mkOption;
+in
+{
+  imports = [
+    # Module A
+    (
+      { ... }:
+      {
+        options.mergedName = mkOption {
+          default = { };
+          type = types.attrsWith {
+            placeholder = "id"; # <- define placeholder = "id"
+            elemType = types.submodule {
+              options.nested = mkOption {
+                type = types.int;
+                default = 1;
+              };
+            };
+          };
+        };
+      }
+    )
+    # Module B
+    (
+      { ... }:
+      {
+        # defines the default placeholder "name"
+        # type merging should resolve to "id"
+        options.mergedName = mkOption {
+          type = types.attrsOf (types.submodule { });
+        };
+      }
+    )
+
+    # Output
+    (
+      {
+        options,
+        ...
+      }:
+      {
+        options.result = mkOption {
+          default = lib.concatStringsSep "." (options.mergedName.type.getSubOptions options.mergedName.loc)
+          .nested.loc;
+        };
+      }
+    )
+  ];
+}

lib/tests/modules/name-merge-attrsWith-2.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{ lib, ... }:
+let
+  inherit (lib) types mkOption;
+in
+{
+  imports = [
+    # Module A
+    (
+      { ... }:
+      {
+        options.mergedName = mkOption {
+          default = { };
+          type = types.attrsWith {
+            placeholder = "id"; # <- define placeholder = "id"
+            elemType = types.submodule {
+              options.nested = mkOption {
+                type = types.int;
+                default = 1;
+              };
+            };
+          };
+        };
+      }
+    )
+    # Module B
+    (
+      { ... }:
+      {
+        options.mergedName = mkOption {
+          type = types.attrsWith {
+            placeholder = "other"; # <- define placeholder = "other" (conflict)
+            elemType = types.submodule { };
+          };
+        };
+      }
+    )
+  ];
+}

lib/types.nix

@@ -608,17 +608,27 @@ rec {
               lhs.lazy
             else
               null;
+          placeholder =
+            if lhs.placeholder == rhs.placeholder then
+              lhs.placeholder
+            else if lhs.placeholder == "name" then
+              rhs.placeholder
+            else if rhs.placeholder == "name" then
+              lhs.placeholder
+            else
+              null;
         in
-        if elemType == null || lazy == null then
+        if elemType == null || lazy == null || placeholder == null then
           null
         else
           {
-            inherit elemType lazy;
+            inherit elemType lazy placeholder;
           };
     in
     {
       elemType,
       lazy ? false,
+      placeholder ? "name",
     }:
     mkOptionType {
       name = if lazy then "lazyAttrsOf" else "attrsOf";
@@ -645,16 +655,16 @@ rec {
           (pushPositions defs)))
       );
       emptyValue = { value = {}; };
-      getSubOptions = prefix: elemType.getSubOptions (prefix ++ ["<name>"]);
+      getSubOptions = prefix: elemType.getSubOptions (prefix ++ ["<${placeholder}>"]);
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
-      substSubModules = m: attrsWith { elemType = elemType.substSubModules m; inherit lazy; };
+      substSubModules = m: attrsWith { elemType = elemType.substSubModules m; inherit lazy placeholder; };
       functor = defaultFunctor "attrsWith" // {
         wrappedDeprecationMessage = { loc }: lib.warn ''
           The deprecated `type.functor.wrapped` attribute of the option `${showOption loc}` is accessed, use `type.nestedTypes.elemType` instead.
         '' elemType;
         payload = {
           # Important!: Add new function attributes here in case of future changes
-          inherit elemType lazy;
+          inherit elemType lazy placeholder;
         };
         inherit binOp;
       };

nixos/doc/manual/development/option-types.section.md

@@ -411,10 +411,22 @@ Composed types are types that take a type as parameter. `listOf
     `lazy`
     : Determines whether the attribute set is lazily evaluated. See: `types.lazyAttrsOf`
 
+    `placeholder` (`String`, default: `name` )
+    : Placeholder string in documentation for the attribute names.
+      The default value `name` results in the placeholder `<name>`
+
     **Behavior**
 
     - `attrsWith { elemType = t; }` is equivalent to `attrsOf t`
     - `attrsWith { lazy = true; elemType = t; }` is equivalent to `lazyAttrsOf t`
+    - `attrsWith { placeholder = "id"; elemType = t; }`
+      Allows to customize how the option type is displayed
+      For example `settings.<rule>.<type>.<path>` instead of `settings.<name>.<name>.<name>`
+
+    ::: {.note}
+    This is the underlying implementation of `types.attrsOf` and `types.lazyAttrsOf`
+    :::
+
 
 `types.uniq` *`t`*