Xtask #2688
Xtask #2688
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This follows the approach in https://github.com/matklad/cargo-xtask and allow us to run `cargo xtask install-tools` from the project root to install the tools that comprehensive rust depends on, rather than using a bash script which is not truly cross platform.
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Hi @egithinji. Thank you very much for drafting this pull request! I really like the idea of having this cross platform task execution tool! |
Thanks @michael-kerscher for reviewing! Yes that sounds like a good candidate for an additional task. Happy to collaborate on this further. |
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| fn execute_task() -> Result<(), DynError> { | ||
| let task = env::args().nth(1); |
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We already depend on Clap, so you could use it here (feel free to do this in a later PR!).
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Have pushed a new PR (#2707) for this and the other suggestions.
| .arg("install") | ||
| .args(args) | ||
| .status() | ||
| .expect("Failed to execute cargo install"); |
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Just curious: have you tested how the errors look if you provoke an error? Like by installing something which doesn't exist?
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Yes I tested manually the various scenarios (missing task, unkown task, and internal error e.g. typo 'mdbok instead of mdbook' in the install-tools logic). We get appropriate error messages and behaviour in each case.
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I think this looks great, so I decided to merge it now. Thanks for the ping, @egithinji! All my small comments are just that: small ideas for how I think this could be improved in small ways. I hope you'll pick up some of them in new PRs! |
Some minor improvements to an already-merged PR (#2688) on the task automation via xtask. Main ones being: - Adding more explanatory comments about what the xtask package is and what it does - Using Clap for CLI arg parsing - Using Anyhow for error handling --------- Co-authored-by: Eric Githinji <[email protected]>
Background
Comprehensive Rust requires a number of tools to be installed (e.g. mdbook and mdbook-course). As mentioned in #2509 (and discussed in #2469) it would be nice to have a cross platform command for installing these dependencies. Currently these are installed using a shell script (
install-mdbook.sh) but this isn't truly cross platform e.g. for Windows users.Xtask
xtask outlines an approach for automating tasks in a Rust project. It involves using cargo's aliasing feature to allow us to run commands like
cargo xtask <some task>to perform adhoc tasks via a Rust binary that we might otherwise need a shell script for.In this PR we add support for a
cargo xtask install-toolscommand that will replace theinstall-mdbook.shscript and install the dependent tools. We can potentially extend it to support for other tasks e.g.cargo xtask fmt.