Is it possible to add specific historical Rust nightly versions?

[hwhsu1231]

Comment:

Hello, rust-feedstock maintainers,

I noticed that we can install nightly versions of Rust via the rust_dev label:

conda install conda-forge/label/rust_dev::rust=<VERSION> --channel conda-forge

However, after searching through the available versions, I found that many historical nightly versions are missing. For example, versions like 1.50.0.dev[YYYYMMDD] are not available in the search results:

Click to expand the log:

hwhsu1231@vb-kubuntu:~$ conda search conda-forge/label/rust_dev::rust -c conda-forge
Loading channels: done
# Name                       Version           Build  Channel             
rust                 1.45.0.dev20200428      h516909a_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.45.0.dev20200428      h516909a_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.48.0.dev20200918      hd18ef5c_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.49.0.dev20201014      hd18ef5c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.49.0.dev20201015      hd18ef5c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.53.0.dev20210324      h8042bfa_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.56.0.dev20210816      h8042bfa_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.62.0.dev20220414      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.63.0.dev20220520      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.63.0.dev20220529      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.65.0.dev20220819      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.65.0.dev20220822      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.65.0.dev20220913      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.66.0.dev20220921      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.67.0.dev20221104      hd7db84c_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.71.0.dev20230425      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.71.0.dev20230517      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.72.0.dev20230606      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.73.0.dev20230713      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.73.0.dev20230815      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.73.0.dev20230818      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.74.0.dev20230821      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.74.0.dev20230822      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.74.0.dev20230823      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.74.0.dev20230829      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.74.0.dev20230831      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.75.0.dev20231010      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.75.0.dev20231010      h7752d63_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.75.0.dev20231110      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.76.0.dev20231208      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.77.0.dev20240117      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.77.0.dev20240117      h7752d63_1  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.78.0.dev20240217      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.78.0.dev20240304      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.78.0.dev20240310      h7752d63_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.79.0.dev20240401      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.81.0.dev20240618      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.81.0.dev20240625      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.81.0.dev20240708      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.81.0.dev20240720      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.82.0.dev20240815      h41bde53_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.83.0.dev20240917      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.84.0.dev20241121      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.85.0.dev20241128      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.85.0.dev20241213      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.86.0.dev20250110      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.87.0.dev20250305      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.87.0.dev20250310      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.87.0.dev20250319      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.88.0.dev20250404      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.88.0.dev20250428      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.89.0.dev20250514      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.89.0.dev20250528      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.90.0.dev20250627      h7cb67c2_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.92.0.dev20250918      hf0b0a79_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.92.0.dev20250922      hf0b0a79_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.93.0.dev20251106      hf0b0a79_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.93.0.dev20251203      hf0b0a79_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
rust                 1.94.0.dev20251216      hf0b0a79_0  conda-forge/label/rust_dev
hwhsu1231@vb-kubuntu:~$ 

Is it possible to add a new build for a specific historical Rust nightly version that is currently missing from the rust_dev channel? If so, how?

[pkgw]

The only versions of nightly that get built are ones that are explicitly selected via pull requests to this feedstock, e.g. #259 (note that it targets the dev branch, not main). It would be super wasteful of resources to package every single nightly release, so we only build ones occasionally, when there's a new feature needed by a depending project.

If you need a new nightly version, a pull request along the lines of the ones submitted before would be great.

If you specifically want a nightly that's old, like from the 1.50.0 timeframe, I suppose we could figure out a way to add a build, but I'd be reluctant to do so unless it was needed by a major conda-forge package. If you need a build for something else, I'd recommend using the code in this feedstock to build your own package(s), then uploading them to your own channel or distributing them however else would be appropriate.

[hwhsu1231]

Hello, @pkgw

Sorry for the late response.

Regarding the conditions you mentioned for adding a new 1.X.Y.dev.[YYYYMMDD] version of Rust Nightly:

...so we only build ones occasionally, when there's a new feature needed by a depending project.

...but I'd be reluctant to do so unless it was needed by a major conda-forge package.

I’d like to provide some context regarding my current situation:

First of all, I am the author of the @localizethedocs organization. And I am currently incubating the rustc-book-l10n project, which requires the lint-docs crate to process {{group-tables}}.

To successfully compile the lint-docs crate and run its executable to generate these tables correctly, a suitable nightly version of Rust is essentially required. Furthermore, using a very recent Rust Nightly (e.g., 1.92.0.dev) sometimes fails to compile older versions of the Rustc book (such as version 1.50) because certain features required by older versions might have been removed in newer releases.

Based on past commit history, the rustc book started using lint-docs to automatically generate {{group-tables}} from version 1.48.0 onwards. Therefore, I may need to install Rust Nightly versions starting from 1.48 at most.

Given the above situation, would this qualify as a valid case for adding specific older versions of Rust Nightly?

If that is acceptable, I will start using rustup to test the older Rustc Book versions one by one. Once I have determined the exact Rust Nightly versions required to successfully compile lint-docs and process {{group-tables}} for each version from 1.48 to 1.x, I will submit a formal request to add those required historical 1.X.Y.dev[YYYYMMDD] versions.

Would that work for you?