cargo public-api
command
You might want the convenient cargo public-api
wrapper for this library. See https://github.com/Enselic/cargo-public-api.
public-api
List and diff the public API of Rust library crates by analyzing their rustdoc JSON. Diffing the public API between releases and commits can help you find breaking API changes and semver violations.
Usage
The library comes with a thin bin wrapper that can be used to explore the capabilities of this library.
# Build and install the thin bin wrapper with the a recent stable Rust toolchain
# Install nightly-2022-03-14 or later so you can build up-to-date rustdoc JSON files
List public API
To list all items that form the public API of your Rust library:
# Generate rustdoc JSON for your own Rust library
# List all items in the public API of your Rust library
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)
& )
& )
Diff public API
It is frequently of interest to know how the public API of a crate has changed. You can find this out by doing a diff between different versions of the same library. Again, cargo public-api
makes this more convenient, but it is straightforward enough without it.
# Generate two different rustdoc JSON files for two different versions of your library
# and then pass both files to the bin to make it print the public API diff
()
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)
Expected output
In general, output aims to be character-by-character identical to the textual parts of the regular cargo doc
HTML output. For example, this item has the following textual representation in the rendered HTML:
pub fn input_files<I, P>(&mut self, paths: I) -> &mut Self
where
I: IntoIterator<Item = P>,
P: AsRef<Path>,
and public-api
represent this item in the following manner:
pub fn bat::PrettyPrinter::input_files<I, P>(&mut self, paths: I) -> &mut Self where I: IntoIterator<Item = P>, P: AsRef<Path>
If we normalize by removing newline characters and adding some whitespace padding to get the alignment right for side-by-side comparison, we can see that they are exactly the same, except an irrelevant trailing comma:
pub fn input_files<I, P>(&mut self, paths: I) -> &mut Self where I: IntoIterator<Item = P>, P: AsRef<Path>,
pub fn bat::PrettyPrinter::input_files<I, P>(&mut self, paths: I) -> &mut Self where I: IntoIterator<Item = P>, P: AsRef<Path>
Blanket implementations
By default, blanket implementations such as impl<T> Any for T
, impl<T> Borrow<T> for T
, and impl<T, U> Into<U> for T where U: From<T>
are omitted from the list of public items of a crate. For the vast majority of use cases, blanket implementations are not of interest, and just creates noise.
If you want to include items of blanket implementations in the output, set Options::with_blanket_implementations
to true if you use the library, or pass --with-blanket-implementations
to public_api
.
Library documentation
Documentation can be found at docs.rs as usual. There are also some simple examples on how to use the library. The code for the thin bin wrapper might also be of interest.
Target audience
Maintainers of Rust libraries that want to keep track of changes to their public API.
Limitations
See [limitation]
labeled issues.
Compatibility matrix
public-api | Understands the rustdoc JSON output of |
---|---|
v0.9.x | nightly-2022-03-14 — |
v0.5.x | nightly-2022-02-23 — nightly-2022-03-13 |
v0.2.x | nightly-2022-01-19 — nightly-2022-02-22 |
v0.0.5 | nightly-2021-10-11 — nightly-2022-01-18 |
Development
See development.md.