cargo-install(1)

NAME

cargo-install - Build and install a Rust binary

SYNOPSIS

cargo install [options] crate...
cargo install [options] --path path
cargo install [options] --git url [crate...]
cargo install [options] --list

DESCRIPTION

This command manages Cargo's local set of installed binary crates. Only packages which have executable [[bin]] or [[example]] targets can be installed, and all executables are installed into the installation root's bin folder.

The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:

  • --root option
  • CARGO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable
  • install.root Cargo config value
  • CARGO_HOME environment variable
  • $HOME/.cargo

There are multiple sources from which a crate can be installed. The default location is crates.io but the --git, --path, and --registry flags can change this source. If the source contains more than one package (such as crates.io or a git repository with multiple crates) the crate argument is required to indicate which crate should be installed.

Crates from crates.io can optionally specify the version they wish to install via the --version flags, and similarly packages from git repositories can optionally specify the branch, tag, or revision that should be installed. 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.

If the package is already installed, Cargo will reinstall it if the installed version does not appear to be up-to-date. If any of the following values change, then Cargo will reinstall the package:

  • The package version and source.
  • The set of binary names installed.
  • The chosen features.
  • The release mode (--debug).
  • The target (--target).

Installing with --path will always build and install, unless there are conflicting binaries from another package. The --force flag may be used to force Cargo to always reinstall the package.

If the source is crates.io or --git then by default the crate will be built in a temporary target directory. To avoid this, the target directory can be specified by setting the CARGO_TARGET_DIR environment variable to a relative path. In particular, this can be useful for caching build artifacts on continuous integration systems.

By default, the Cargo.lock file that is included with the package will be ignored. This means that Cargo will recompute which versions of dependencies to use, possibly using newer versions that have been released since the package was published. The --locked flag can be used to force Cargo to use the packaged Cargo.lock file if it is available. This may be useful for ensuring reproducible builds, to use the exact same set of dependencies that were available when the package was published. It may also be useful if a newer version of a dependency is published that no longer builds on your system, or has other problems. The downside to using --locked is that you will not receive any fixes or updates to any dependency. Note that Cargo did not start publishing Cargo.lock files until version 1.37, which means packages published with prior versions will not have a Cargo.lock file available.

OPTIONS

Install Options

--vers version
--version version
Specify a version to install. This may be a version requirement, like ~1.2, to have Cargo select the newest version from the given requirement. If the version does not have a requirement operator (such as ^ or ~), then it must be in the form MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, and will install exactly that version; it is not treated as a caret requirement like Cargo dependencies are.
--git url
Git URL to install the specified crate from.
--branch branch
Branch to use when installing from git.
--tag tag
Tag to use when installing from git.
--rev sha
Specific commit to use when installing from git.
--path path
Filesystem path to local crate to install.
--list
List all installed packages and their versions.
-f
--force
Force overwriting existing crates or binaries. This can be used if a package has installed a binary with the same name as another package. This is also useful if something has changed on the system that you want to rebuild with, such as a newer version of rustc.
--no-track
By default, Cargo keeps track of the installed packages with a metadata file stored in the installation root directory. This flag tells Cargo not to use or create that file. With this flag, Cargo will refuse to overwrite any existing files unless the --force flag is used. This also disables Cargo's ability to protect against multiple concurrent invocations of Cargo installing at the same time.
--bin name...
Install only the specified binary.
--bins
Install all binaries.
--example name...
Install only the specified example.
--examples
Install all examples.
--root dir
Directory to install packages into.
--registry registry
Name of the registry to use. Registry names are defined in Cargo config files. If not specified, the default registry is used, which is defined by the registry.default config key which defaults to crates-io.
--index index
The URL of the registry index to use.

Feature Selection

The feature flags allow you to control the enabled features for the "current" package. The "current" package is the package in the current directory, or the one specified in --manifest-path. If running in the root of a virtual workspace, then the default features are selected for all workspace members, or all features if --all-features is specified.

When no feature options are given, the default feature is activated for every selected package.

--features features
Space or comma separated list of features to activate. These features only apply to the current directory's package. Features of direct dependencies may be enabled with <dep-name>/<feature-name> syntax. This flag may be specified multiple times, which enables all specified features.
--all-features
Activate all available features of all selected packages.
--no-default-features
Do not activate the default feature of the current directory's package.

Compilation Options

--target triple
Install for the given architecture. The default is the host architecture. The general format of the triple is <arch><sub>-<vendor>-<sys>-<abi>. Run rustc --print target-list for a list of supported targets.

This may also be specified with the build.target config value.

Note that specifying this flag makes Cargo run in a different mode where the target artifacts are placed in a separate directory. See the build cache documentation for more details.

--target-dir directory
Directory for all generated artifacts and intermediate files. May also be specified with the CARGO_TARGET_DIR environment variable, or the build.target-dir config value. Defaults to target in the root of the workspace.
--debug
Build with the dev profile instead the release profile.

Manifest Options

--frozen
--locked
Either of these flags requires that the Cargo.lock file is up-to-date. If the lock file is missing, or it needs to be updated, Cargo will exit with an error. The --frozen flag also prevents Cargo from attempting to access the network to determine if it is out-of-date.

These may be used in environments where you want to assert that the Cargo.lock file is up-to-date (such as a CI build) or want to avoid network access.

--offline
Prevents Cargo from accessing the network for any reason. Without this flag, Cargo will stop with an error if it needs to access the network and the network is not available. With this flag, Cargo will attempt to proceed without the network if possible.

Beware that this may result in different dependency resolution than online mode. Cargo will restrict itself to crates that are downloaded locally, even if there might be a newer version as indicated in the local copy of the index. See the cargo-fetch(1) command to download dependencies before going offline.

May also be specified with the net.offline config value.

Miscellaneous Options

-j N
--jobs N
Number of parallel jobs to run. May also be specified with the build.jobs config value. Defaults to the number of CPUs.

Display Options

-v
--verbose
Use verbose output. May be specified twice for "very verbose" output which includes extra output such as dependency warnings and build script output. May also be specified with the term.verbose config value.
-q
--quiet
No output printed to stdout.
--color when
Control when colored output is used. Valid values:

  • auto (default): Automatically detect if color support is available on the terminal.
  • always: Always display colors.
  • never: Never display colors.

May also be specified with the term.color config value.

Common Options

+toolchain
If Cargo has been installed with rustup, and the first argument to cargo begins with +, it will be interpreted as a rustup toolchain name (such as +stable or +nightly). See the rustup documentation for more information about how toolchain overrides work.
-h
--help
Prints help information.
-Z flag
Unstable (nightly-only) flags to Cargo. Run cargo -Z help for details.

ENVIRONMENT

See the reference for details on environment variables that Cargo reads.

EXIT STATUS

  • 0: Cargo succeeded.
  • 101: Cargo failed to complete.

EXAMPLES

  1. Install or upgrade a package from crates.io:

    cargo install ripgrep

  2. Install or reinstall the package in the current directory:

    cargo install --path .

  3. View the list of installed packages:

    cargo install --list

SEE ALSO

cargo(1), cargo-uninstall(1), cargo-search(1), cargo-publish(1)