Building NativeLink with Cargo

These instructions contain information on how to work with NativeLink for Cargo users.

If you’re using the Nix flake you’re all set.

If you’re running outside of nix, install Cargo via rustup.

Build

To build the nativelink executable:

Fast Build

cargo build --bin nativelink --profile=smol

Development Build

cargo build --bin nativelink

Optimized Build

cargo build --bin nativelink --release

Danger

These builds, including the optimized build are development builds. They’re non-hermetic and have unpredictable memory allocation behavior.

Use the Nix build and Container images in production.

Note

The Rust compiler rustc generates large artifacts during compilation, including dependencies, macros, and intermediate files. When compiling programs from source, be mindful of the associated files’ impact on your disk usage in the target/ directory.

If you’re facing issues due to this, run the following command to clear cache files:

cargo clean

Test

To run the tests:

Fast Build

cargo test --all --profile=smol

Development Build

cargo test --all

Optimized Build

cargo test --all --release