Does not build

[wvhulle]

Bug Description

The basic installation of this binary from crates.io fails:

cargo install rustowl

Output:

   Compiling tower-lsp v0.20.0
   Compiling tikv-jemallocator v0.6.1
   Compiling rustls-webpki v0.103.6
   Compiling tokio-rustls v0.26.2
   Compiling hyper-rustls v0.27.7
   Compiling reqwest v0.12.24
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `indexmap`
 --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:7:1
  |
7 | pub extern crate indexmap;
  | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `polonius_engine`
 --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:8:1
  |
8 | pub extern crate polonius_engine;
  | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_borrowck`
 --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:9:1
  |
9 | pub extern crate rustc_borrowck;
  | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
  |
  = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_data_structures`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:10:1
   |
10 | pub extern crate rustc_data_structures;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_driver`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:11:1
   |
11 | pub extern crate rustc_driver;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_errors`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:12:1
   |
12 | pub extern crate rustc_errors;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_hash`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:13:1
   |
13 | pub extern crate rustc_hash;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_hir`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:14:1
   |
14 | pub extern crate rustc_hir;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_index`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:15:1
   |
15 | pub extern crate rustc_index;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_interface`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:16:1
   |
16 | pub extern crate rustc_interface;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_middle`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:17:1
   |
17 | pub extern crate rustc_middle;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_query_system`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:18:1
   |
18 | pub extern crate rustc_query_system;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_session`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:19:1
   |
19 | pub extern crate rustc_session;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_span`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:20:1
   |
20 | pub extern crate rustc_span;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_stable_hash`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:21:1
   |
21 | pub extern crate rustc_stable_hash;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `rustc_type_ir`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:22:1
   |
22 | pub extern crate rustc_type_ir;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate
   |
   = help: maybe you need to install the missing components with: `rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools-preview`

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `smallvec`
  --> src/bin/rustowlc.rs:23:1
   |
23 | pub extern crate smallvec;
   | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ can't find crate

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error: could not compile `rustowl` (bin "rustowlc") due to 17 previous errors
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...
error: failed to compile `rustowl v1.0.0-rc.1 (https://github.com/cordx56/rustowl#20017bfa)`, intermediate artifacts can be found at `/tmp/cargo-installQwEaVo`.
To reuse those artifacts with a future compilation, set the environment variable `CARGO_TARGET_DIR` to that path.

Environment

• OS: Linux NixOS 25.05
• Rustc: stable 1.91 and nightly-2025-11-21

[MuntasirSZN]

@wvhulle This won't work unless you have installed rust-src, rustc-dev and llvm-tools components using rustup. Also you have to set RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 then cargo install it. For the frictionless way, use binstall or the nix package itself (see README).

[wvhulle]

@MuntasirSZN, It is a bit confusing that this is mentioned on top of your readme:

Prerequisite

    cargo installed
        You can install cargo using rustup from [this link](https://rustup.rs/).
    Visual Studio Code (VS Code) installed

We tested this guide on macOS Sequoia 15.3.2 on arm64 architecture with VS Code 1.99.3 and cargo 1.89.0.

If I delve a bit deeper, noticed you have a build document, but it also does not mention installing those components you just mentioned: https://github.com/cordx56/rustowl/blob/main/docs/build.md.

There seems to be a script that installs those things defined somewhere in the scripts/ folder, but I prefer not to execute random shell scripts.

[MuntasirSZN]

Yeah, our docs are a bit out of place but this is what you need to do:

1. Either use the nix package.
2. Or do:

rustup component add rust-src rustc-dev llvm-tools
RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 cargo install rustowl

[cordx56]

Maybe you did not use rustup-proxied cargo, right?
rustup-proxied cargo automatically downloads required components.
Since RustOwl requires a specific version of Rust and those extra packages, it is difficult to build without our script or rustup.

We would like to write them in our docs. Thank you!

[wvhulle]

Okay, I made a fork with added support for the Helix editor and other LSP-based editors with code actions at https://github.com/wvhulle/ferrous-owl

[MuntasirSZN]

Okay, I made a fork with added support for the Helix editor and other LSP-based editors with code actions at wvhulle/ferrous-owl

Nice! Prs are welcome. As its quite a big one, can you send prs one by one.