xtask

Reusable building blocks for Rust xtask crates.

This crate is deliberately not a framework for defining one universal xtask CLI. Each repository should keep its own clap command tree and product-specific build flow. xtask provides the small, reusable primitives that tend to be copied between repositories: repository paths, file checks, process helpers, artifact hashing, Apple signing, DMG packaging, Sparkle appcasts, and GitHub Actions outputs.

Feature flags

Feature	Default	Purpose
`process`	yes	`xshell` setup and command lookup helpers.
`hash`	yes	SHA-256 and human-readable artifact sizes.
`github-actions`	no	Append values to `GITHUB_OUTPUT`.
`latest-json`	no	Update simple channel-based `latest.json` manifests.
`sparkle`	no	Generate and merge Sparkle RSS appcasts.
`apple`	no	macOS-only Xcode, plist, codesign, provisioning profile, and notarization helpers.
`dmg`	no	macOS-only `create-dmg` wrapper. Implies `apple` and `hash`.

Apple modules are compiled on target_os = "macos" only. This keeps Linux CI and non-Apple xtask crates from accidentally depending on platform-specific APIs.

Repository root discovery

Library crates cannot use their own env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR") to discover a downstream repository. Pass the manifest directory from your repository's xtask crate instead:

let root = xtask::repo::root_from_xtask_manifest(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))?;
# anyhow::Ok(())

Basic usage

use xtask::{fs, hash, repo};

let root = repo::root_from_xtask_manifest(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))?;
let app = root.join("target/release/MyApp.app");

fs::ensure_dir(&app)?;
let sha = hash::sha256_file(root.join("dist/MyApp.dmg"))?;
println!("sha256={sha}");
# anyhow::Ok(())

macOS signing example

#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
fn sign_app(app: &std::path::Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    let options = xtask::apple::CodesignOptions::runtime("Developer ID Application", app);
    xtask::apple::codesign(&options)?;
    xtask::apple::verify_signature(app)
}
# #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
# sign_app(std::path::Path::new("MyApp.app"))?;
# anyhow::Ok(())

DMG example

#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
fn package(app: std::path::PathBuf, output: std::path::PathBuf) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    let options = xtask::dmg::CreateDmgOptions::new("MyApp", app, output);
    xtask::dmg::create(&options)
}
# #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
# package("MyApp.app".into(), "MyApp.dmg".into())?;
# anyhow::Ok(())

Publishing

The package name xtask is intentionally short. Before publishing, run:

cargo publish --dry-run --all-features

Then publish with a crates.io token from an account that should own the crate.