Keeping Rust Updated (with examples)

Introduction

Rust provides a command-line tool called rustup that is used for managing Rust toolchains and associated packages. With the rustup update command, you can easily update your installed toolchains and even rustup itself. In this article, we will explore the different use cases of the rustup update command and how it can be utilized effectively.

Update all installed toolchains and rustup

Motivation

As new versions of Rust and its associated tools are released, it is important to keep them up to date in order to benefit from the latest features, bug fixes, and performance optimizations. By using the rustup update command without any arguments, you can easily update all the installed toolchains and rustup itself.

Command

rustup update

Explanation

Running rustup update without any arguments triggers an update of all the installed toolchains and the rustup tool itself. It checks for the latest versions of Rust and its components, and if updates are available, it downloads and installs them.

Example Output

info: syncing channel updates for 'stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: latest update on 2021-08-26, rust version 1.55.0 (stable)
info: downloading component 'cargo'
info: downloading component 'clippy'
info: downloading component 'rls'
info: downloading component 'rust-analysis'
info: downloading component 'rust-src'
info: downloading component 'rustfmt'
info: removing component 'cargo'
info: removing component 'clippy'
info: removing component 'rls'
info: removing component 'rust-analysis'
info: removing component 'rust-src'
info: removing component 'rustfmt'
info: installing component 'cargo'
info: installing component 'clippy'
info: installing component 'rls'
info: installing component 'rust-analysis'
info: installing component 'rust-src'
info: installing component 'rustfmt'
info: default toolchain set to 'stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'

  stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu installed - rustc 1.55.0 (stable)

Install or update a specific toolchain

Motivation

Sometimes, you may not need to update all the installed toolchains. Instead, you may want to specifically update or install a particular toolchain, such as a nightly build, to experiment with new features or contribute to a Rust project. The rustup update <toolchain> command allows you to achieve this.

Command

rustup update nightly

Explanation

By specifying the toolchain name after the rustup update command, you can update or install that specific toolchain. The <toolchain> argument could be a specific release, a specific date-based nightly build, or even a custom toolchain created with rustup toolchain link.

Example Output

info: syncing channel updates for 'nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
info: latest update on 2021-10-05, rust version 1.57.0-nightly (04f21b113 2021-10-04)
info: downloading component 'cargo'
info: downloading component 'clippy'
info: downloading component 'rust-analysis'
info: removing component 'cargo'
info: removing component 'clippy'
info: removing component 'rust-analysis'
info: installing component 'cargo'
info: installing component 'clippy'
info: installing component 'rust-analysis'
info: nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu installed - rustc 1.57.0-nightly (04f21b113 2021-10-04)

Conclusion

Keeping your Rust toolchains and rustup updated is crucial for staying up to date with the latest advancements in the language and its ecosystem. In this article, we explored the different use cases of the rustup update command, including updating all installed toolchains and installing/updating specific toolchains. By utilizing these examples, you can easily keep your Rust environment in sync with the latest stable or nightly releases.