Glossary
Artifact
An artifact is the file or set of files created as a result of the compilation process. This includes linkable libraries, executable binaries, and generated documentation.
Cargo
Cargo is the Rust package manager, and the primary topic of this book.
Cargo.lock
See lock file.
Cargo.toml
See manifest.
Crate
A Rust crate is either a library or an executable program, referred to as either a library crate or a binary crate, respectively.
Every target defined for a Cargo package is a crate.
Loosely, the term crate may refer to either the source code of the target or to the compiled artifact that the target produces. It may also refer to a compressed package fetched from a registry.
The source code for a given crate may be subdivided into modules.
Edition
A Rust edition is a developmental landmark of the Rust language. The
edition of a package is specified in the Cargo.toml
manifest, and individual targets can specify which edition they
use. See the Edition Guide for more information.
Feature
The meaning of feature depends on the context:
-
A feature is a named flag which allows for conditional compilation. A feature can refer to an optional dependency, or an arbitrary name defined in a
Cargo.toml
manifest that can be checked within source code. -
Cargo has unstable feature flags which can be used to enable experimental behavior of Cargo itself.
-
The Rust compiler and Rustdoc have their own unstable feature flags (see The Unstable Book and The Rustdoc Book).
-
CPU targets have target features which specify capabilities of a CPU.
Index
The index is the searchable list of crates in a registry.
Lock file
The Cargo.lock
lock file is a file that captures the exact version of
every dependency used in a workspace or
package. It is automatically generated by Cargo. See
Cargo.toml vs Cargo.lock.
Manifest
A manifest is a description of a package or a
workspace in a file named Cargo.toml
.
A virtual manifest is a Cargo.toml
file that only describes a
workspace, and does not include a package.
Member
A member is a package that belongs to a workspace.
Module
Rust’s module system is used to organize code into logical units called modules, which provide isolated namespaces within the code.
The source code for a given crate may be subdivided into one or more separate modules. This is usually done to organize the code into areas of related functionality or to control the visible scope (public/private) of symbols within the source (structs, functions, and so on).
A Cargo.toml
file is primarily concerned with the
package it defines, its crates, and the packages of the crates on
which they depend. Nevertheless, you will see the term “module” often when
working with Rust, so you should understand its relationship to a given crate.
Package
A package is a collection of source files and a Cargo.toml
manifest file which describes the package. A package has a name
and version which is used for specifying dependencies between packages.
A package contains multiple targets, each of which is a
crate. The Cargo.toml
file describes the type of the crates
(binary or library) within the package, along with some metadata about each
one — how each is to be built, what their direct dependencies are, etc., as
described throughout this book.
The package root is the directory where the package’s Cargo.toml
manifest
is located. (Compare with workspace root.)
The package ID specification, or SPEC, is a string used to uniquely reference a specific version of a package from a specific source.
Small to medium sized Rust projects will only need a single package, though it is common for them to have multiple crates.
Larger projects may involve multiple packages, in which case Cargo workspaces can be used to manage common dependencies and other related metadata between the packages.
Package manager
Broadly speaking, a package manager is a program (or collection of related programs) in a software ecosystem that automates the process of obtaining, installing, and upgrading artifacts. Within a programming language ecosystem, a package manager is a developer-focused tool whose primary functionality is to download library artifacts and their dependencies from some central repository; this capability is often combined with the ability to perform software builds (by invoking the language-specific compiler).
Cargo is the package manager within the Rust ecosystem. Cargo downloads your Rust package’s dependencies (artifacts known as crates), compiles your packages, makes distributable packages, and (optionally) uploads them to crates.io, the Rust community’s package registry.
Package registry
See registry.
Project
Another name for a package.
Registry
A registry is a service that contains a collection of downloadable crates that can be installed or used as dependencies for a package. The default registry in the Rust ecosystem is crates.io. The registry has an index which contains a list of all crates, and tells Cargo how to download the crates that are needed.
Source
A source is a provider that contains crates that may be included as dependencies for a package. There are several kinds of sources:
- Registry source — See registry.
- Local registry source — A set of crates stored as compressed files on the filesystem. See Local Registry Sources.
- Directory source — A set of crates stored as uncompressed files on the filesystem. See Directory Sources.
- Path source — An individual package located on the filesystem (such as a path dependency) or a set of multiple packages (such as path overrides).
- Git source — Packages located in a git repository (such as a git dependency or git source).
See Source Replacement for more information.
Spec
Target
The meaning of the term target depends on the context:
-
Cargo Target — Cargo packages consist of targets which correspond to artifacts that will be produced. Packages can have library, binary, example, test, and benchmark targets. The list of targets are configured in the
Cargo.toml
manifest, often inferred automatically by the directory layout of the source files. -
Target Directory — Cargo places all built artifacts and intermediate files in the target directory. By default this is a directory named
target
at the workspace root, or the package root if not using a workspace. The directory may be changed with the--target-dir
command-line option, theCARGO_TARGET_DIR
environment variable, or thebuild.target-dir
config option. -
Target Architecture — The OS and machine architecture for the built artifacts are typically referred to as a target.
-
Target Triple — A triple is a specific format for specifying a target architecture. Triples may be referred to as a target triple which is the architecture for the artifact produced, and the host triple which is the architecture that the compiler is running on. The target triple can be specified with the
--target
command-line option or thebuild.target
config option. The general format of the triple is<arch><sub>-<vendor>-<sys>-<abi>
where:arch
= The base CPU architecture, for examplex86_64
,i686
,arm
,thumb
,mips
, etc.sub
= The CPU sub-architecture, for examplearm
hasv7
,v7s
,v5te
, etc.vendor
= The vendor, for exampleunknown
,apple
,pc
,nvidia
, etc.sys
= The system name, for examplelinux
,windows
,darwin
, etc.none
is typically used for bare-metal without an OS.abi
= The ABI, for examplegnu
,android
,eabi
, etc.
Some parameters may be omitted. Run
rustc --print target-list
for a list of supported targets.
Test Targets
Cargo test targets generate binaries which help verify proper operation and correctness of code. There are two types of test artifacts:
- Unit test — A unit test is an executable binary compiled directly from
a library or a binary target. It contains the entire contents of the library
or binary code, and runs
#[test]
annotated functions, intended to verify individual units of code. - Integration test target — An integration test
target is an executable binary compiled from a test
target which is a distinct crate whose source is located in the
tests
directory or specified by the[[test]]
table in theCargo.toml
manifest. It is intended to only test the public API of a library, or execute a binary to verify its operation.
Workspace
A workspace is a collection of one or more
packages that share common dependency resolution (with a shared
Cargo.lock
lock file), output directory, and various
settings such as profiles.
A virtual workspace is a workspace where the root Cargo.toml
manifest does not define a package, and only lists the
workspace members.
The workspace root is the directory where the workspace’s Cargo.toml
manifest is located. (Compare with package root.)