{ lib, pkgs, ... }:
let
  normalizeName = name: lib.removeSuffix ".service" (lib.removeSuffix ".target" name);

  # infers the service type from the arguments and dispatches appropriately
  genService = { name, run, depends }: if run != null then
    genService' (normalizeName name) "longrun" depends [
      (pkgs.writeTextFile {
        name = "s6-${name}-run";
        destination = "/${normalizeName name}/run";
        text = run;
      })
    ]
  else
    # TODO: a bundle can totally have dependencies. i can't just map them *all* to contents.
    # genService' (normalizeName name) "bundle" [] (
    #   (builtins.map
    #     (d: pkgs.writeTextFile {
    #       name = "s6-${name}-contains-${d}";
    #       destination = "/${normalizeName name}/contents.d/${normalizeName d}";
    #       text = "";
    #     })
    #     depends
    #   ) ++ [
    #     # in case the bundle has no contents, ensure `contents.d` still gets made
    #     (pkgs.runCommandLocal "s6-${name}-contains.d" {} ''
    #       mkdir -p $out/"${normalizeName name}"/contents.d
    #     '')
    #   ]
    # )
    genService' (normalizeName name) "bundle" [] [
      (pkgs.writeTextFile {
        name = "s6-${name}-contents";
        destination = "/${normalizeName name}/contents";
        text = lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (builtins.map normalizeName depends);
      })
    ]
  ;
  genService' = name: type: depends: others: pkgs.symlinkJoin {
    name = "s6-${name}";
    paths = others ++ [
      (pkgs.writeTextFile {
        name = "s6-${name}-type";
        destination = "/${name}/type";
        text = type;
      })
    ] ++ builtins.map
      (d: pkgs.writeTextFile {
        name = "s6-${name}-depends-${d}";
        destination = "/${name}/dependencies.d/${normalizeName d}";
        text = "";
      })
      depends;
  };

  # create a directory, containing N subdirectories:
  # - svc-a/
  #   - type
  #   - run
  # - svc-b/
  #   - type
  #   - run
  # - ...
  genServices = svcs: pkgs.symlinkJoin {
    name = "s6-user-services";
    paths = builtins.map genService svcs;
  };

  # output is a directory containing:
  # - db
  # - lock
  # - n
  # - resolve.cdb
  # - servicedirs/
  #   - svc-a/
  #   - svc-b/
  #   - ...
  #
  # this can then be used by s6-rc-init, like:
  # s6-svscan scandir &
  # s6-rc-init -c $compiled -l $PWD/live -d $PWD/scandir
  # s6-rc -l $PWD/live start svc-a
  compileServices = sources: with pkgs; stdenv.mkDerivation {
    name = "s6-user-services";
    src = sources;
    nativeBuildInputs = [ s6-rc ];
    buildPhase = ''
      s6-rc-compile $out $src
    '';
  };

  # transform the `user.services` attrset into a s6 services list.
  s6SvcsFromConfigServices = services: lib.mapAttrsToList
    (name: service: {
      inherit name;
      run = service.serviceConfig.ExecStart;
      depends = service.wants ++ builtins.attrNames (
        lib.filterAttrs (_: cfg: lib.elem name cfg.wantedBy) services
      );
    })
    services
  ;

  # in the systemd service management, these targets are implicitly defined and used
  # to accomplish something like run-levels, or service groups.
  # map them onto s6 "bundles". their contents are determined via reverse dependency mapping (`wantedBy` of every other service).
  implicitServices = {
    "default.target" = {
      serviceConfig.ExecStart = null;
      wants = [];
      wantedBy = [];
    };
    "graphical-session.target" = {
      serviceConfig.ExecStart = null;
      wants = [];
      wantedBy = [];
    };
  };
in
{
  options.sane.users = with lib; mkOption {
    type = types.attrsOf (types.submodule ({ config, ...}: let
      sources = genServices (s6SvcsFromConfigServices (implicitServices // config.services));
    in {
      fs.".config/s6/sources".symlink.target = sources;
      fs.".config/s6/compiled".symlink.target = compileServices sources;
    }));
  };
}