Crate win32_remove_dir_all

A std::fs::remove_dir_all replacement using the Windows Shell and Property System APIs on Windows.

The current Windows implementation of remove_dir_all in the Rust standard library has a long-standing issue with consistently deleting directories. The Windows Shell and Windows Property System APIs both provide methods for recursively deleting directories with consistent results by way of SHFileOperationW and IFileOperation, respectively, although a stable solution compatible with UWP apps has not been settled on in the context of the associated GitHub issue.

This crate provides a remove_dir_all implementation based on both SHFileOperationW and IFileOperation, with the former used as a fallback if the latter is not supported (IFileOperation is recommended over SHFileOperationW, but it is only supported on Windows Vista and later). For non-Windows platforms, the standard library remove_dir_all function is re-exported for convenience.

Due to the lack of Shell and Property System API support for UWP apps, UWP app developers are recommended to use the remove_dir_all crate instead, as it provides an alternative implementation that does not rely on the Shell or Property System APIs.

Examples

The remove_dir_all function provided by this crate can be used as a drop-in replacement for std::fs::remove_dir_all, even in code targeting multiple platforms; std::fs::remove_dir_all will be used automatically on non-Windows targets.

use std::{error::Error, fs, path::Path};
use win32_remove_dir_all::remove_dir_all;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
    // Create a directory with a couple files residing in it.
    fs::create_dir("foo")?;
    fs::OpenOptions::new().create(true).write(true).open("foo/bar")?;
    fs::OpenOptions::new().create(true).write(true).open("foo/baz")?;

    // Delete the directory and all its contents as you would with `std::fs::remove_dir_all`.
    remove_dir_all("foo")?;

    Ok(())
}

Disabling Property System (IFileOperation) Support

Support for IFileOperation is gated behind the property_system_api crate feature, which is enabled by default. It is not necessary to disable this feature in order to support Windows versions prior to Windows Vista, as SHFileOperationW will be used instead if IFileOperation is unavailable. It can still be disabled if desired, such as if build times or sizes are of concern, in which case SHFileOperationW will always be used regardless of the Windows version.

Functions

remove_dir_all

Removes a directory at this path, after removing all its contents. Use carefully!