cargo install --name

[simon-an]

Problem

I have a binary crate which has multiple features. I want to install multiple variants of it.

So in addition to

cargo install app

I want to do:

cargo install --features feature-1 --name app-only-feat1 app
cargo install --all-features --name app-all app

Proposed Solution

Add --name argument

Notes

No response

[simon-an]

Figured it out myself. In the cargo.toml we can do:

default-run = "app"

[[bin]]
name = "app"
path = "src/main.rs"

[[bin]]
name = "app-only-feat1"
required-features = ["feat1"]
path = "src/main.rs"

Result:

cargo install --features feature-1 --bin app-only-feat1 app
cargo install  app

[simon-an]

Maybe it is worth adding this to the docs of the cargo install command

[weihanglo]

@simon-an, glad you figured it out!

I have the impression that cargo help install already mentioned that here https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/cargo/commands/cargo-install.html

If a crate has multiple binaries, the --bin argument can selectively install only one of them, and if you'd rather install examples the --example argument can be used as well.

Is this sufficient or do you have different thoughts on doc discovery, wording, or something else?

[weihanglo]

Sorry for accidentally changing the title 😅.

[simon-an]

For me it was not obvious in the first place that:

• I can use [[bin]] multiple times in the cargo.toml pointing to the same main.ts file which in combination with required-features and default-run. Somehow i assumed this have to be different crates in the same workspace.
• I can then use this together with cargo install --bin to get the behavior i wanted.

[simon-an]

But you are right it is mentioned in the docs already and the issue was in front of the computer. 🤣

[weihanglo]

It's hard to decide what should be included in the first page of the manual. I feel like multiple binaries setup is a somewhat advanced feature, so IMO the current place of it in Cargo Guide seems reasonable.

Imagine there is a Cargo cookbook and helps people do arbitrary tasks. I am not sure if it is useful for cases like yours.

BTW, I am going to close this soon. If you have a new idea about improving the doc of cargo install in general, let us know. We can re-open it :)

[philpax]

Hi there! I'd like to request the --name parameter as originally specified, so that the binary can be named at install-time, not configuration-time.

My use case is to install multiple versions of the same binary with different names, so that I can use them simultaneously:

cargo install --path cli --name ambient
cargo install --git https://github.com/AmbientRun/Ambient.git --tag v0.2.1 --name ambient-0.2.1
cargo install --git https://github.com/AmbientRun/Ambient.git --rev 123abcdef --name ambient-123abcdef
# ...

As far as I can tell, there's no way to do this without installing to a temporary directory and then moving the resulting binary to ~/.cargo/bin with a new name, which works but isn't ideal.

(Happy to open a new issue if that's preferred!)

[weihanglo]

@philpax Surely! Please file a new one, and we can start a discussion there. I have some thoughts to share on such a flag :)