audacity_4: init at 4.0.0

[johnrichardrinehart]

The prerequisite #557920 has merged. Verification of an aarch64-linux build producing an x86_64-linux executable is in progress.

Description of changes

Update audacity to 4.0.0, retain 3.7.9 as audacity_3, and provide audacity_4 as an alias. Use Qt 6, the official source archive, and pinned offline dependencies. Supported libraries come from nixpkgs. Declare Expat explicitly and disable WebKit in wxWidgets.

On Darwin, build only the host architecture and use stdenv.hostPlatform.darwinMinVersion. Retain Qt bundling. Supply NIX_QMLIMPORTSCANNER and existing QML import directories. Pass -no-strip to macdeployqt; Nix performs final stripping.

Install the bundle under $out/Applications and provide $out/bin/audacity. Wrap only the application executable, not bundled framework libraries. Clear external Qt plugin/QML search paths to avoid loading a second Qt installation. Preserve FFmpeg/JACK runtime library paths. This incorporates @wegank’s bundling and layout recommendations.

Vendor the upstream patches in-tree, with their PR links beside each entry in patches:

• Framework arguments: Keep wx-config framework pairs together in CMake link libraries musescore/muse_deps#47
• Audacity deployment overrides: Respect externally configured macOS deployment targets audacity/audacity#12021
• Muse deployment overrides: Honor caller-provided macOS deployment targets musescore/muse_framework#278
• Extra macdeployqt arguments: Allow extra macdeployqt deployment options audacity/audacity#12056

The unused bundling-disable patch from audacity/audacity#12026 is removed. No downstream CMake substitution is needed for deployment options.

Audacity 3 retains strictDeps, __structuredAttrs, and native wxWidgets for wx-config, as explicitly requested. These are the only differences from the moved master packaging; rapidjson.patch is byte-identical. Its deployment-target correction remains separate in #560876.

Verification

• The promoted package built successfully on an M2 MacBook running macOS 15.6.1. --long-version and --plugin-registration-self-test passed, including Nyquist resource lookup.
• The user confirmed GUI runtime operation with a small recording in both Audacity 4.0.0 and Audacity 3.7.9 on the M2. Audacity 3 also built successfully from this PR with strict dependencies and structured attributes enabled.
• A Linux-hosted wrapper smoke test exercised the actual Darwin hooks: both entry points cleared conflicting Qt paths, preserved runtime library paths and arguments, and loaded an unwrapped bundled shared library.
• x86_64-linux, aarch64-linux, and aarch64-darwin evaluation passed. Formatting passed. Linux keeps automatic Qt wrapping. A full Linux build was verified earlier, not repeated for this promotion.

Deployment warnings

The earlier bundled experiment logged macOS sandbox write denials during Qt deployment but exited successfully. The affected final frameworks were complete and matched a prior working bundled artifact. Repeated forced overwrites are a hypothesis, not a confirmed cause. Post-build file modes do not establish permissions at the time of failure. No security protections were disabled. Spotlight discovery remains unverified.

Automation disclosure

OpenAI Codex assisted with implementation, upstream patches, validation, and PR text. Human review is required before merging.

The in-tree patch files are byte-identical to the previous normalized fetchpatch2 outputs. All four apply to the release archive with zero fuzz. Linux and Darwin evaluation and the formatting check passed after vendoring.

[claymorwan]

little question but why not making audacity 4 as audacity and moving audacity 3 to audacity_3 ? Just trying to undersrand why

[johnrichardrinehart]

little question but why not making audacity 4 as audacity and moving audacity 3 to audacity_3 ? Just trying to undersrand why

It's a good question. I don't have a good reason other than that I'm the one introducing the change and I don't want to change things silently for people. If that's better/recommended then I'm happy to change the PR.

[claymorwan]

Well personally as a user I'd expect the regular audacity package to be the latest one while still having audicity_3 if i really want the old version. But that's just my opinion obviously if u don't like it or if other maintainers prefer ur way then yea having audacity_4 is fine too

[johnrichardrinehart]

Well personally as a user I'd expect the regular audacity package to be the latest one while still having audicity_3 if i really want the old version. But that's just my opinion obviously if u don't like it or if other maintainers prefer ur way then yea having audacity_4 is fine too

Take a look at the recent changes, if you get the chance. Basically, .#audacity_3 resolves to .#audacity as it stands before this PR lands. .#audacity is now an alias to .#audacity_4. And, so, of course, we also introduce .#audacity_4, now, too.

[OctoRocket]

Is there any particular reason why fetchurl is being used instead of sticking with fetchFromGitHub?

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

❌ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (85fc054)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623
Commit: dde6cb5b818fa9f6f1f228db3e1ecf24b8ee4369 (subsequent changes)
Merge: 9d855b95788632493238f7aed154fd7ec696f2fd

Triggered by @wegank (9713184)
Logs: https://github.com/wegank/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34110308900/attempts/1

Download packages from cache:

• x86_64-linux

  nix-store -r \
    --option binary-caches 'https://cache.nixos.org/ https://wegank.cachix.org' \
    --option trusted-public-keys '
      cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      wegank.cachix.org-1:xHignps7GtkPP/gYK5LvA/6UFyz98+sgaxBSy7qK0Vs=
    ' \
    /nix/store/1iirb4411bmbbxcdilmkh92izcraax17-audacity-3.7.9 \
    /nix/store/ga5jjwdma40mgy6nqq1i58krn3ws1z01-audacity-4.0.0

• aarch64-linux

  nix-store -r \
    --option binary-caches 'https://cache.nixos.org/ https://wegank.cachix.org' \
    --option trusted-public-keys '
      cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      wegank.cachix.org-1:xHignps7GtkPP/gYK5LvA/6UFyz98+sgaxBSy7qK0Vs=
    ' \
    /nix/store/mx2p54r2plr9imrv38i12h95vf7kfmci-audacity-4.0.0 \
    /nix/store/hfqgylf5i84whqab4jwm42gd06p68prf-audacity-3.7.9

• aarch64-darwin

  nix-store -r \
    --option binary-caches 'https://cache.nixos.org/ https://wegank.cachix.org' \
    --option trusted-public-keys '
      cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      wegank.cachix.org-1:xHignps7GtkPP/gYK5LvA/6UFyz98+sgaxBSy7qK0Vs=
    ' \
    /nix/store/825868rraggv93fs4s644yw3qg1x4ini-audacity-3.7.9

---

x86_64-linux

✅ 2 packages built:

• audacity
• audacity_3

---

aarch64-linux

✅ 2 packages built:

• audacity
• audacity_3

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

❌ 1 package failed to build:

• audacity

✅ 1 package built:

• audacity_3

[wegank]

nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review.

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623 --package audacity
Commit: dde6cb5b818fa9f6f1f228db3e1ecf24b8ee4369

---

aarch64-darwin

❌ 1 package failed to build:

• audacity

---

audacity

-- Found WrapVulkanHeaders: /nix/store/hwrh2gyy4ln4khwmgc5rkqz6jixd2qjc-vulkan-headers-1.4.357.0/include
-- Found Cups: /nix/store/zjm8nm8f2nf77ycwkj1zfncsi6m83bpj-cups-2.4.19-lib/lib/libcups.dylib (found version "2.4.19")
Detected locale "C" with character encoding "US-ASCII", which is not UTF-8.
Qt depends on a UTF-8 locale, and has switched to "UTF-8" instead.
If this causes problems, reconfigure your locale. See the locale(1) manual
for more information.
-- Qt version: 6.11.2
-- Setup dependencies
CMake Error at muse_deps/buildtools/resolve.cmake:176 (message):
  [expat] system header 'expat.h' not found (USE_SYSTEM)
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  muse_deps/buildtools/resolve.cmake:477 (_extdeps_resolve_system)
  muse_deps/buildtools/manifest.cmake:109 (extdeps_resolve)
  muse_deps/buildtools/manifest.cmake:177 (_extdeps_run)
  buildscripts/cmake/DependencyManifest.cmake:1 (require_dep)
  buildscripts/cmake/SetupDependencies.cmake:15 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:201 (include)
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

[johnrichardrinehart]

@OctoRocket No specific reason for using fetchurl. Happy to use fetchFromGitHub if that’s preferred.

[johnrichardrinehart]

@wegank Could you trigger a fresh nixpkgs-review for audacity on aarch64-darwin, targeting the updated PR head a87b9587da72?

I added expat as a direct build dependency to address the missing expat.h error and squashed the PR into one commit. The updated package builds on x86_64-linux, and the automatic Darwin evaluation passed, but the Darwin package build still needs verification. Thanks!

[wegank]

Sure, nixpkgs-review running now.

[johnrichardrinehart]

The Audacity 3 macOS deployment-target inconsistency seen in the review logs is addressed separately in #560876. That PR replaces the hard-coded minimums with stdenv.hostPlatform.darwinMinVersion and is kept separate because this is a fix to the upstream-maintained Audacity 3 package, not part of the Audacity 4 upgrade.

The deployment-target smoke checks pass; native Darwin build/runtime verification is still outstanding. This Audacity 4 PR is unchanged.

[wegank]

I think muse_deps/recipes/wxwidgets/meta.cmake needs a patch. I'll push it once I've verified that my fix works.

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

❌ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (85fc054)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623
Commit: a87b9587da72fdf2b8545c02e02755cfeaf1aea2 (subsequent changes)
Merge: eb1d3b13813452842f0a6dc471fae6646bd7f22a

Triggered by @wegank (9713184)
Logs: https://github.com/wegank/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34118778456/attempts/1

Download packages from cache:

• aarch64-darwin

  nix-store -r \
    --option binary-caches 'https://cache.nixos.org/ https://wegank.cachix.org' \
    --option trusted-public-keys '
      cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      wegank.cachix.org-1:xHignps7GtkPP/gYK5LvA/6UFyz98+sgaxBSy7qK0Vs=
    ' \
    /nix/store/825868rraggv93fs4s644yw3qg1x4ini-audacity-3.7.9

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

❌ 1 package failed to build:

• audacity

✅ 1 package built:

• audacity_3

[johnrichardrinehart]

@wegank, your layout and bundling recommendations are now implemented in 8a1c09e9bac7.

The package retains bundled Qt dependencies, moves the bundle to $out/Applications/audacity.app, and provides $out/bin/audacity. It wraps only Audacity’s executable and clears external Qt plugin/QML search paths. Automatic bundle scanning is disabled because it can wrap bundled framework libraries as executables.

The original automatic-wrapping recommendation applied to the store-backed variant. It is not suitable for the retained-bundling variant.

The current approach and validation are described in #559623 (comment).

[wegank]

I submitted audacity/audacity#12026 to restore the switch. This PR consumes the commit with fetchpatch2 and disables bundling on Darwin. Nix keeps Qt dependencies in the store and wraps the application.

I don't think disable bundling is a good idea, as most users wouldn't expect to open Audacity from the terminal, but rather from Spotlight. Could you check if it's possible to keep the bundling?

[johnrichardrinehart]

@wegank, replying to #559623 (comment): we will definitely investigate retaining Qt bundling, including the qmlimportscanner lookup and strip failures. Finder and Spotlight launch must work; terminal-only operation is not acceptable.

The current approach retains the application bundle and wraps its executable in Contents/MacOS, not just the command-line launcher. That wrapper supplies the Qt environment without shell initialization. However, we have not verified native Finder or Spotlight launch, so this does not settle your concern.

We're turning on our M2 Macbook to confirm native bundling and Finder/Spotlight launch behavior.

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

✅ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (00a1ae2)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623 --package audacity
Commit: 2b5f1e3a450b4220d7432c3ef8c33d94ed315196 (subsequent changes)
Merge: 1859ed0395a7171352ca2defd71c76688a5461ef

Triggered by @johnrichardrinehart (6321578)
Logs: https://github.com/johnrichardrinehart/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34132122437/attempts/1

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

✅ 1 package built:

• audacity

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

✅ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (00a1ae2)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623 --package audacity
Commit: 1dcb32c89bc68bc07a14ab0c983acfaccd6638a0 (subsequent changes)
Merge: 3145b0c0884f263afd1f4c1ce51503de9a9d9a6b

Triggered by @johnrichardrinehart (6321578)
Logs: https://github.com/johnrichardrinehart/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34133562198/attempts/1

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

✅ 1 package built:

• audacity

[johnrichardrinehart]

@wegank, native testing on the M2 MacBook confirms that retained Qt bundling can complete the build. The experiment sets the existing Nix Qt override NIX_QMLIMPORTSCANNER, supplies only existing QML import directories, and passes -no-strip to macdeployqt. Nix still performs its normal stripping phase.

The first bundled artifact then failed at runtime: the automatic Qt hook wrapped copied framework libraries as executables. dyld rejected QtCore5Compat with “cannot link against a main executable”. For retained bundling, your targeted wrapQtApp approach is necessary here: disable automatic bundle scanning and wrap only Audacity’s executable. The corrected experiment built successfully on the M2 and passed --long-version and --plugin-registration-self-test. The self-test found the bundled Nyquist runtime resources. These checks do not establish successful GUI plugin scanning or Spotlight discovery. My earlier statement that an explicit call was unnecessary applied to the store-backed variant, not a bundle containing executable-bit framework libraries.

The bundling changes are now promoted in commit 8a1c09e9bac7; see #559623 (comment).

[wegank]

Okay. So let's go back to bundling, do the wrapQtApp thing, and then ship it? #557920 has already been merged.

[johnrichardrinehart]

Okay. So let's go back to bundling, do the wrapQtApp thing, and then ship it? #557920 has already been merged.

@wegank Yeah, let's go back to bundling. But, I had to use dontWrapQtApps because Qt framework libs were being wrapped as executables which broke things at runtime. I ended up using wrapProgram in postFixup to try to provide only a single version of Qt at runtime. I had an earlier/proto version of this wrapping work which accidentally included 2 different copies of Qt (macdeployqt + our nix wrapper) which failed Cocoa initialization. So, the latest commit is what I've landed on, runtime-tested on x86_64-linux and aarch64-darwin (recorded a small clip to prove hardware and software).

Before merging/shipping: the derivation/package.nix looks pretty gross, now, so I'd love recommendations on how to clean it up if it's possible.

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

✅ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (00a1ae2)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623 --package audacity
Commit: 8a1c09e9bac7ae241443733e0da9c7dda16f3fb9 (subsequent changes)
Merge: e3950318d8c9f1452a9acaf2f7f9cb4b1673d973

Triggered by @johnrichardrinehart (6321578)
Logs: https://github.com/johnrichardrinehart/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34142689593/attempts/1

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

✅ 1 package built:

• audacity

[nixpkgs-review-gha]

✅ nixpkgs-review result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha (00a1ae2)

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 559623 --package audacity --package audacity_3
Commit: 1de9554ef4b89bbbf7cae8cf592485e832fa96da (subsequent changes)
Merge: 1a9abdabde38bf44a475f6af2e04daf4c0b5b6e3

Triggered by @johnrichardrinehart (6321578)
Logs: https://github.com/johnrichardrinehart/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/34144951979/attempts/1

---

x86_64-linux

✅ 2 packages built:

• audacity
• audacity_3

---

aarch64-linux

✅ 2 packages built:

• audacity
• audacity_3

---

aarch64-darwin (sandbox = relaxed)

✅ 2 packages built:

• audacity
• audacity_3

[wegank]

Feel free to add yourself as a maintainer, if you are interested!

[johnrichardrinehart]

The aarch64-linux to x86_64-linux cross-build and local execution checks now pass with two follow-up fixes: Qt Declarative host-tool discovery in #561181, and Audacity host-tool selection in #561198.

The unmodified cross-build first failed on mixed native/target Qt setup hooks, then exposed missing Qt Quick in the cross-built dependency. Both causes are addressed separately. The resulting x86_64 executable ran locally: --long-version and --plugin-registration-self-test exited 0. This is startup/initialization coverage, not a recording test.