# Suggested Workflows

The full bootstrapping process takes quite a while. Here are some suggestions
to make your life easier.

<!-- toc -->

## Installing a pre-push hook

CI will automatically fail your build if it doesn't pass `tidy`, our
internal tool for ensuring code quality. If you'd like, you can install a
[Git hook](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks)
that will automatically run `./x test tidy` on each push, to ensure
your code is up to par. If the hook fails then run `./x test tidy --bless`
and commit the changes. If you decide later that the pre-push behavior is
undesirable, you can delete the `pre-push` file in `.git/hooks`.

A prebuilt git hook lives at [`src/etc/pre-push.sh`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/etc/pre-push.sh) which can be copied into your `.git/hooks` folder as `pre-push` (without the `.sh` extension!).

You can also install the hook as a step of running `./x setup`!

## Configuring `rust-analyzer` for `rustc`

### Visual Studio Code

`rust-analyzer` can help you check and format your code whenever you save
a file. By default, `rust-analyzer` runs the `cargo check` and `rustfmt`
commands, but you can override these commands to use more adapted versions
of these tools when hacking on `rustc`. For example, `x setup vscode` will prompt
you to create a `.vscode/settings.json` file which will configure Visual Studio code.
This will ask `rust-analyzer` to use `./x check` to check the sources, and the
stage 0 rustfmt to format them.
The recommended `rust-analyzer` settings live at [`src/etc/rust_analyzer_settings.json`].

The default `rust-analyzer.check.overrideCommand` command line will check all the crates and tools
in the repository. If you are working on a specific part, you can override the command to only 
check the part you are working on to save checking time. For example, if you are working on 
the compiler, you can override the command to `x check compiler --json-output` to only 
check the compiler part. You can run `x check --help --verbose` to see the available parts.

If you have enough free disk space and you would like to be able to run `x` commands while
rust-analyzer runs in the background, you can also add `--build-dir build-rust-analyzer` to the
`overrideCommand` to avoid x locking.

If running `./x check` on save is inconvenient, in VS Code you can use a [Build
Task] instead:

```JSON
// .vscode/tasks.json
{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "./x check",
            "command": "./x check",
            "type": "shell",
            "problemMatcher": "$rustc",
            "presentation": { "clear": true },
            "group": { "kind": "build", "isDefault": true }
        }
    ]
}
```

[Build Task]: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/tasks


### Neovim

For Neovim users there are several options for configuring for rustc. The easiest way is by using 
[neoconf.nvim](https://github.com/folke/neoconf.nvim/), which allows for project-local
configuration files with the native LSP. The steps for how to use it are below.
Note that they require rust-analyzer to already be configured with Neovim.
Steps for this can be [found here](https://rust-analyzer.github.io/manual.html#nvim-lsp).

1. First install the plugin. This can be done by following the steps in the README.
2. Run `x setup`, which will have a prompt for it to create a `.vscode/settings.json` file.
   `neoconf` is able to read and update rust-analyzer settings automatically when the project is
   opened when this file is detected.

If you're running `coc.nvim`,
you can use `:CocLocalConfig` to create a `.vim/coc-settings.json`,
and copy the settings from [`src/etc/rust_analyzer_settings.json`].

Another way is without a plugin, and creating your own logic in your configuration. To do this you 
must translate the JSON to Lua yourself. The translation is 1:1 and fairly straight-forward. It 
must be put in the `["rust-analyzer"]` key of the setup table, which is 
[shown here](https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig/blob/master/doc/server_configurations.md#rust_analyzer)

If you would like to use the build task that is described above, you may either make your own 
command in your config, or you can install a plugin such as 
[overseer.nvim](https://github.com/stevearc/overseer.nvim) that can [read VSCode's `task.json` 
files](https://github.com/stevearc/overseer.nvim/blob/master/doc/guides.md#vs-code-tasks), and 
follow the same instructions as above.

## Check, check, and check again

When doing simple refactorings, it can be useful to run `./x check`
continuously. If you set up `rust-analyzer` as described above, this will
be done for you every time you save a file. Here you are just checking that
the compiler can **build**, but often that is all you need (e.g., when renaming a
method). You can then run `./x build` when you actually need to
run tests.

In fact, it is sometimes useful to put off tests even when you are not
100% sure the code will work. You can then keep building up
refactoring commits and only run the tests at some later time. You can
then use `git bisect` to track down **precisely** which commit caused
the problem. A nice side-effect of this style is that you are left
with a fairly fine-grained set of commits at the end, all of which
build and pass tests. This often helps reviewing.

## `x suggest`

The `x suggest` subcommand suggests (and runs) a subset of the extensive
`rust-lang/rust` tests based on files you have changed. This is especially useful
for new contributors who have not mastered the arcane `x` flags yet and more
experienced contributors as a shorthand for reducing mental effort. In all cases
it is useful not to run the full tests (which can take on the order of tens of
minutes) and just run a subset which are relevant to your changes. For example,
running `tidy` and `linkchecker` is useful when editing Markdown files, whereas UI
tests are much less likely to be helpful. While `x suggest` is a useful tool, it
does not guarantee perfect coverage (just as PR CI isn't a substitute for bors).
See the [dedicated chapter](../tests/suggest-tests.md) for more information and
contribution instructions. 

Please note that `x suggest` is in a beta state currently and the tests that it
will suggest are limited.

## Configuring `rustup` to use nightly

Some parts of the bootstrap process uses pinned, nightly versions of tools like
rustfmt. To make things like `cargo fmt` work correctly in your repo, run

```console
cd <path to rustc repo>
rustup override set nightly
```

after [installing a nightly toolchain] with `rustup`. Don't forget to do this for all
directories you have [setup a worktree for]. You may need to use the pinned
nightly version from `src/stage0`, but often the normal `nightly` channel will work.

**Note** see [the section on vscode] for how to configure it with this real rustfmt `x` uses,
and [the section on rustup] for how to setup `rustup` toolchain for your bootstrapped compiler

**Note** This does _not_ allow you to build `rustc` with cargo directly. You
still have to use `x` to work on the compiler or standard library, this just
lets you use `cargo fmt`.

[installing a nightly toolchain]: https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/concepts/channels.html?highlight=nightl#working-with-nightly-rust
[setup a worktree for]: ./suggested.md#working-on-multiple-branches-at-the-same-time
[the section on vscode]: suggested.md#configuring-rust-analyzer-for-rustc
[the section on rustup]: how-to-build-and-run.md?highlight=rustup#creating-a-rustup-toolchain

## Faster builds with `--keep-stage`.

Sometimes just checking
whether the compiler builds is not enough. A common example is that
you need to add a `debug!` statement to inspect the value of some
state or better understand the problem. In that case, you don't really need
a full build. By bypassing bootstrap's cache invalidation, you can often get
these builds to complete very fast (e.g., around 30 seconds). The only
catch is this requires a bit of fudging and may produce compilers that
don't work (but that is easily detected and fixed).

The sequence of commands you want is as follows:

- Initial build: `./x build library`
  - As [documented previously], this will build a functional
    stage1 compiler as part of running all stage0 commands (which include
    building a `std` compatible with the stage1 compiler) as well as the
    first few steps of the "stage 1 actions" up to "stage1 (sysroot stage1)
    builds std".
- Subsequent builds: `./x build library --keep-stage 1`
  - Note that we added the `--keep-stage 1` flag here

[documented previously]: ./how-to-build-and-run.md#building-the-compiler

As mentioned, the effect of `--keep-stage 1` is that we just _assume_ that the
old standard library can be re-used. If you are editing the compiler, this
is almost always true: you haven't changed the standard library, after
all. But sometimes, it's not true: for example, if you are editing
the "metadata" part of the compiler, which controls how the compiler
encodes types and other states into the `rlib` files, or if you are
editing things that wind up in the metadata (such as the definition of
the MIR).

**The TL;DR is that you might get weird behavior from a compile when
using `--keep-stage 1`** -- for example, strange
[ICEs](../appendix/glossary.html#ice) or other panics. In that case, you
should simply remove the `--keep-stage 1` from the command and
rebuild. That ought to fix the problem.

You can also use `--keep-stage 1` when running tests. Something like this:

- Initial test run: `./x test tests/ui`
- Subsequent test run: `./x test tests/ui --keep-stage 1`

## Using incremental compilation

You can further enable the `--incremental` flag to save additional
time in subsequent rebuilds:

```bash
./x test tests/ui --incremental --test-args issue-1234
```

If you don't want to include the flag with every command, you can
enable it in the `config.toml`:

```toml
[rust]
incremental = true
```

Note that incremental compilation will use more disk space than usual.
If disk space is a concern for you, you might want to check the size
of the `build` directory from time to time.

## Fine-tuning optimizations

Setting `optimize = false` makes the compiler too slow for tests. However, to
improve the test cycle, you can disable optimizations selectively only for the
crates you'll have to rebuild
([source](https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/131828-t-compiler/topic/incremental.20compilation.20question/near/202712165)).
For example, when working on `rustc_mir_build`, the `rustc_mir_build` and
`rustc_driver` crates take the most time to incrementally rebuild. You could
therefore set the following in the root `Cargo.toml`:

```toml
[profile.release.package.rustc_mir_build]
opt-level = 0
[profile.release.package.rustc_driver]
opt-level = 0
```

## Working on multiple branches at the same time

Working on multiple branches in parallel can be a little annoying, since
building the compiler on one branch will cause the old build and the
incremental compilation cache to be overwritten. One solution would be
to have multiple clones of the repository, but that would mean storing the
Git metadata multiple times, and having to update each clone individually.

Fortunately, Git has a better solution called [worktrees]. This lets you
create multiple "working trees", which all share the same Git database.
Moreover, because all of the worktrees share the same object database,
if you update a branch (e.g. master) in any of them, you can use the new
commits from any of the worktrees. One caveat, though, is that submodules
do not get shared. They will still be cloned multiple times.

[worktrees]: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree

Given you are inside the root directory for your Rust repository, you can
create a "linked working tree" in a new "rust2" directory by running
the following command:

```bash
git worktree add ../rust2
```

Creating a new worktree for a new branch based on `master` looks like:

```bash
git worktree add -b my-feature ../rust2 master
```

You can then use that rust2 folder as a separate workspace for modifying
and building `rustc`!

## Using nix-shell

If you're using nix, you can use the following nix-shell to work on Rust:

```nix
{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
pkgs.mkShell {
  name = "rustc";
  nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
    binutils cmake ninja pkg-config python3 git curl cacert patchelf nix
  ];
  buildInputs = with pkgs; [
    openssl glibc.out glibc.static
  ];
  # Avoid creating text files for ICEs.
  RUSTC_ICE = "0";
  # Provide `libstdc++.so.6` for the self-contained lld.
  LD_LIBRARY_PATH = "${with pkgs; lib.makeLibraryPath [
    stdenv.cc.cc.lib
  ]}";
}
```

Note that when using nix on a not-NixOS distribution, it may be necessary to set
**`patch-binaries-for-nix = true` in `config.toml`**.
Bootstrap tries to detect whether it's running in nix and enable patching automatically,
but this detection can have false negatives.

You can also use your nix shell to manage `config.toml`:

```nix
let
  config = pkgs.writeText "rustc-config" ''
    # Your config.toml content goes here
  ''
pkgs.mkShell {
  /* ... */
  # This environment variable tells bootstrap where our config.toml is.
  RUST_BOOTSTRAP_CONFIG = config;
}
```

## Shell Completions

If you use Bash, Fish or PowerShell, you can find automatically-generated shell completion scripts for `x.py` in [`src/etc/completions`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/tree/master/src/etc/completions).
Zsh support will also be included once issues with [`clap_complete`](https://crates.io/crates/clap_complete) have been resolved.

You can use `source ./src/etc/completions/x.py.<extension>`
to load completions for your shell of choice,
or `& .\src\etc\completions\x.py.ps1` for PowerShell.
Adding this to your shell's startup script (e.g. `.bashrc`) will automatically load this completion.

[`src/etc/rust_analyzer_settings.json`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/etc/rust_analyzer_settings.json
