optionally return string_view from coerceToString

we'll retain the old coerceToString interface that returns a string, but callers
that don't need the returned value to outlive the Value it came from can save
copies by using the new interface instead. for values that weren't stringy we'll
pass a new buffer argument that'll be used for storage and shouldn't be
inspected.

src/libexpr/eval.cc

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "hash.hh"
+#include "types.hh"
 #include "util.hh"
 #include "store-api.hh"
 #include "derivations.hh"
@@ -1694,7 +1695,7 @@ void EvalState::concatLists(Value & v, size_t nrLists, Value * * lists, const Po
 void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
 {
     PathSet context;
-    std::vector<std::string> s;
+    std::vector<BackedStringView> s;
     size_t sSize = 0;
     NixInt n = 0;
     NixFloat nf = 0;
@@ -1705,7 +1706,7 @@ void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
     const auto str = [&] {
         std::string result;
         result.reserve(sSize);
-        for (const auto & part : s) result += part;
+        for (const auto & part : s) result += *part;
         return result;
     };
     /* c_str() is not str().c_str() because we want to create a string
@@ -1715,15 +1716,18 @@ void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
         char * result = allocString(sSize + 1);
         char * tmp = result;
         for (const auto & part : s) {
-            memcpy(tmp, part.c_str(), part.size());
-            tmp += part.size();
+            memcpy(tmp, part->data(), part->size());
+            tmp += part->size();
         }
         *tmp = 0;
         return result;
     };
 
+    Value values[es->size()];
+    Value * vTmpP = values;
+
     for (auto & [i_pos, i] : *es) {
-        Value vTmp;
+        Value & vTmp = *vTmpP++;
         i->eval(state, env, vTmp);
 
         /* If the first element is a path, then the result will also
@@ -1756,9 +1760,9 @@ void ExprConcatStrings::eval(EvalState & state, Env & env, Value & v)
             /* skip canonization of first path, which would only be not
             canonized in the first place if it's coming from a ./${foo} type
             path */
-            s.emplace_back(
-                state.coerceToString(i_pos, vTmp, context, false, firstType == nString, !first));
-            sSize += s.back().size();
+            auto part = state.coerceToString(i_pos, vTmp, context, false, firstType == nString, !first);
+            sSize += part->size();
+            s.emplace_back(std::move(part));
         }
 
         first = false;
@@ -1942,34 +1946,35 @@ std::optional<string> EvalState::tryAttrsToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v,
     if (i != v.attrs->end()) {
         Value v1;
         callFunction(*i->value, v, v1, pos);
-        return coerceToString(pos, v1, context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
+        return coerceToString(pos, v1, context, coerceMore, copyToStore).toOwned();
     }
 
     return {};
 }
 
-string EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
+BackedStringView EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
     bool coerceMore, bool copyToStore, bool canonicalizePath)
 {
     forceValue(v, pos);
 
-    string s;
-
     if (v.type() == nString) {
         copyContext(v, context);
-        return v.string.s;
+        return std::string_view(v.string.s);
     }
 
     if (v.type() == nPath) {
-        Path path(canonicalizePath ? canonPath(v.path) : v.path);
-        return copyToStore ? copyPathToStore(context, path) : path;
+        BackedStringView path(PathView(v.path));
+        if (canonicalizePath)
+            path = canonPath(*path);
+        if (copyToStore)
+            path = copyPathToStore(context, std::move(path).toOwned());
+        return path;
     }
 
     if (v.type() == nAttrs) {
         auto maybeString = tryAttrsToString(pos, v, context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
-        if (maybeString) {
-            return *maybeString;
-        }
+        if (maybeString)
+            return std::move(*maybeString);
         auto i = v.attrs->find(sOutPath);
         if (i == v.attrs->end()) throwTypeError(pos, "cannot coerce a set to a string");
         return coerceToString(pos, *i->value, context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
@@ -1991,14 +1996,13 @@ string EvalState::coerceToString(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context,
         if (v.isList()) {
             string result;
             for (auto [n, v2] : enumerate(v.listItems())) {
-                result += coerceToString(pos, *v2,
-                    context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
+                result += *coerceToString(pos, *v2, context, coerceMore, copyToStore);
                 if (n < v.listSize() - 1
                     /* !!! not quite correct */
                     && (!v2->isList() || v2->listSize() != 0))
                     result += " ";
             }
-            return result;
+            return std::move(result);
         }
     }
 
@@ -2032,7 +2036,7 @@ string EvalState::copyPathToStore(PathSet & context, const Path & path)
 
 Path EvalState::coerceToPath(const Pos & pos, Value & v, PathSet & context)
 {
-    string path = coerceToString(pos, v, context, false, false);
+    string path = coerceToString(pos, v, context, false, false).toOwned();
     if (path == "" || path[0] != '/')
         throwEvalError(pos, "string '%1%' doesn't represent an absolute path", path);
     return path;