Xtask #2688
Xtask #2688
Conversation
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. |
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.