Checking conditional configurations
rustc
supports checking that every reachable1 #[cfg]
matches a list of the
expected config names and values.
This can help with verifying that the crate is correctly handling conditional compilation for different target platforms or features. It ensures that the cfg settings are consistent between what is intended and what is used, helping to catch potential bugs or errors early in the development process.
In order to accomplish that goal, rustc
accepts the --check-cfg
flag, which specifies
whether to check conditions and how to check them.
Note: For interacting with this through Cargo, see Cargo Specifics page.
rustc
promises to at least check reachable #[cfg]
, and while non-reachable
#[cfg]
are not currently checked, they may well be checked in the future without it being a
breaking change.
Specifying expected names and values
To specify expected names and values, the check cfg specification provides the cfg(...)
option which enables specifying for an expected config name and it's expected values.
Note: No implicit expectation is added when using
--cfg
. Users are expected to pass all expected names and values using the check cfg specification.
It has this basic form:
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name, values("value1", "value2", ... "valueN"))'
where name
is a bare identifier (has no quotes) and each "value"
term is a quoted literal
string. name
specifies the name of the condition, such as feature
or my_cfg
.
"value"
specify one of the value of that condition name.
When the cfg(...)
option is specified, rustc
will check every1:
#[cfg(name = "value")]
attribute#[cfg_attr(name = "value")]
attribute#[link(name = "a", cfg(name = "value"))]
attributecfg!(name = "value")
macro call
The command line
--cfg
arguments are currently NOT checked but may very well be checked in the future.
rustc
will check that the "value"
specified is present in the list of expected values.
If "value"
is not in it, then rustc
will report an unexpected_cfgs
lint diagnostic.
The default diagnostic level for this lint is Warn
.
To check for the none value (ie #[cfg(foo)]
) one can use the none()
predicate inside
values()
: values(none())
. It can be followed or preceded by any number of "value"
.
To enable checking of values, but to provide an none/empty set of expected values
(ie. expect #[cfg(name)]
), use these forms:
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name)'
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name, values(none()))'
To enable checking of name but not values, use one of these forms:
-
No expected values (will lint on every value of
name
):rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name, values())'
-
Unknown expected values (will never lint on value of
name
):rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name, values(any()))'
To avoid repeating the same set of values, use this form:
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(name1, ..., nameN, values("value1", "value2", ... "valueN"))'
To enable checking without specifying any names or values, use this form:
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg()'
The --check-cfg cfg(...)
option can be repeated, both for the same condition name and for
different names. If it is repeated for the same condition name, then the sets of values for that
condition are merged together (precedence is given to values(any())
).
To help out an equivalence table between
--cfg
arguments and--check-cfg
is available down below.
Well known names and values
rustc
maintains a list of well-known names and their corresponding values in order to avoid
the need to specify them manually.
Well known names and values are implicitly added as long as at least one --check-cfg
argument
is present.
As of 2024-08-20T
, the list of known names is as follows:
clippy
debug_assertions
doc
doctest
fmt_debug
miri
overflow_checks
panic
proc_macro
relocation_model
rustfmt
sanitize
sanitizer_cfi_generalize_pointers
sanitizer_cfi_normalize_integers
target_abi
target_arch
target_endian
target_env
target_family
target_feature
target_has_atomic
target_has_atomic_equal_alignment
target_has_atomic_load_store
target_os
target_pointer_width
target_thread_local
target_vendor
test
ub_checks
unix
windows
Like with values(any())
, well known names checking can be disabled by passing cfg(any())
as argument to --check-cfg
.
Equivalence table with --cfg
This table describe the equivalence between a --cfg
argument to a --check-cfg
argument.
--cfg | --check-cfg |
---|---|
nothing | nothing or --check-cfg=cfg() (to enable the checking) |
--cfg foo | --check-cfg=cfg(foo) or --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values(none())) |
--cfg foo="" | --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values("")) |
--cfg foo="bar" | --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values("bar")) |
--cfg foo="1" --cfg foo="2" | --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values("1", "2")) |
--cfg foo="1" --cfg bar="2" | --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values("1")) --check-cfg=cfg(bar, values("2")) |
--cfg foo --cfg foo="bar" | --check-cfg=cfg(foo, values(none(), "bar")) |
Examples
Example: Cargo-like feature
example
Consider this command line:
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(feature, values("lion", "zebra"))' \
--cfg 'feature="lion"' example.rs
This command line indicates that this crate has two features:
lion
andzebra
. Thelion
feature is enabled, while thezebra
feature is disabled.
#[cfg(feature = "lion")] // This condition is expected, as "lion" is an
// expected value of `feature`
fn tame_lion(lion: Lion) {}
#[cfg(feature = "zebra")] // This condition is expected, as "zebra" is an expected
// value of `feature` but the condition will evaluate
// to false since only --cfg feature="lion" was passed
fn ride_zebra(z: Zebra) {}
#[cfg(feature = "platypus")] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as "platypus" is NOT
// an expected value of `feature` and will cause a
// the compiler to emit the `unexpected_cfgs` lint
fn poke_platypus() {}
#[cfg(feechure = "lion")] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as 'feechure' is NOT
// a expected condition name, no `cfg(feechure, ...)`
// was passed in `--check-cfg`
fn tame_lion() {}
#[cfg(windows = "unix")] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as the well known
// 'windows' cfg doesn't expect any values
fn tame_windows() {}
Example: Multiple names and values
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(is_embedded, has_feathers)' \
--check-cfg 'cfg(feature, values("zapping", "lasers"))' \
--cfg has_feathers --cfg 'feature="zapping"'
#[cfg(is_embedded)] // This condition is expected, as 'is_embedded' was
// provided in --check-cfg and doesn't take any value
fn do_embedded() {}
#[cfg(has_feathers)] // This condition is expected, as 'has_feathers' was
// provided in --check-cfg and doesn't take any value
fn do_features() {}
#[cfg(has_mumble_frotz)] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as 'has_mumble_frotz'
// was NEVER provided in any --check-cfg arguments
fn do_mumble_frotz() {}
#[cfg(feature = "lasers")] // This condition is expected, as "lasers" is an
// expected value of `feature`
fn shoot_lasers() {}
#[cfg(feature = "monkeys")] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as "monkeys" is NOT
// an expected value of `feature`
fn write_shakespeare() {}
Example: Condition names without values
rustc --check-cfg 'cfg(is_embedded, has_feathers, values(any()))' \
--cfg has_feathers
#[cfg(is_embedded)] // This condition is expected, as 'is_embedded' was
// provided in --check-cfg as condition name
fn do_embedded() {}
#[cfg(has_feathers)] // This condition is expected, as "has_feathers" was
// provided in --check-cfg as condition name
fn do_features() {}
#[cfg(has_feathers = "zapping")] // This condition is expected, as "has_feathers"
// was provided and because *any* values is
// expected for 'has_feathers' no
// warning is emitted for the value "zapping"
fn do_zapping() {}
#[cfg(has_mumble_frotz)] // This condition is UNEXPECTED, as 'has_mumble_frotz'
// was not provided in any --check-cfg arguments
fn do_mumble_frotz() {}