Ubuntu Manpage: cargo-bench — Execute benchmarks of a package

Provided by: cargo_1.75.0+dfsg0ubuntu1~bpo10-0ubuntu0.23.10_amd64

NAME

       cargo-bench — Execute benchmarks of a package

SYNOPSIS

       cargo bench [options] [benchname] [-- bench-options]

DESCRIPTION

Compile and execute benchmarks.

The benchmark filtering argument benchname and all the arguments following the two dashes
(--) are passed to the benchmark binaries and thus to libtest (rustc’s built in unit-test
and micro-benchmarking framework). If you are passing arguments to both Cargo and the
binary, the ones after -- go to the binary, the ones before go to Cargo. For details about
libtest’s arguments see the output of cargo bench -- --help and check out the rustc book’s
chapter on how tests work at <https://doc.rust-lang.org/rustc/tests/index.html>.

As an example, this will run only the benchmark named foo (and skip other similarly named
benchmarks like foobar):

cargo bench -- foo --exact

Benchmarks are built with the --test option to rustc which creates a special executable by
linking your code with libtest. The executable automatically runs all functions annotated
with the #[bench] attribute. Cargo passes the --bench flag to the test harness to tell it
to run only benchmarks, regardless of whether the harness is libtest or a custom harness.

The libtest harness may be disabled by setting harness = false in the target manifest
settings, in which case your code will need to provide its own main function to handle
running benchmarks.

Note: The #[bench] attribute
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/unstable-book/library-features/test.html> is
currently unstable and only available on the nightly channel
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/appendix-07-nightly-rust.html>. There are some
packages available on crates.io <https://crates.io/keywords/benchmark> that may
help with running benchmarks on the stable channel, such as Criterion
<https://crates.io/crates/criterion>.

By default, cargo bench uses the bench profile
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/profiles.html#bench>, which enables
optimizations and disables debugging information. If you need to debug a benchmark, you
can use the --profile=dev command-line option to switch to the dev profile. You can then
run the debug-enabled benchmark within a debugger.

Working directory of benchmarks
The working directory of every benchmark is set to the root directory of the package the
benchmark belongs to. Setting the working directory of benchmarks to the package’s root
directory makes it possible for benchmarks to reliably access the package’s files using
relative paths, regardless from where cargo bench was executed from.

OPTIONS

Benchmark Options
--no-run
Compile, but don’t run benchmarks.

--no-fail-fast
Run all benchmarks regardless of failure. Without this flag, Cargo will exit after the
first executable fails. The Rust test harness will run all benchmarks within the
executable to completion, this flag only applies to the executable as a whole.

Package Selection
By default, when no package selection options are given, the packages selected depend on
the selected manifest file (based on the current working directory if --manifest-path is
not given). If the manifest is the root of a workspace then the workspaces default members
are selected, otherwise only the package defined by the manifest will be selected.

The default members of a workspace can be set explicitly with the
workspace.default-members key in the root manifest. If this is not set, a virtual
workspace will include all workspace members (equivalent to passing --workspace), and a
non-virtual workspace will include only the root crate itself.

-p spec…, --package spec…
Benchmark only the specified packages. See cargo-pkgid(1) for the SPEC format. This
flag may be specified multiple times and supports common Unix glob patterns like *, ?
and []. However, to avoid your shell accidentally expanding glob patterns before Cargo
handles them, you must use single quotes or double quotes around each pattern.

--workspace
Benchmark all members in the workspace.

--all
Deprecated alias for --workspace.

--exclude SPEC…
Exclude the specified packages. Must be used in conjunction with the --workspace flag.
This flag may be specified multiple times and supports common Unix glob patterns like
*, ? and []. However, to avoid your shell accidentally expanding glob patterns before
Cargo handles them, you must use single quotes or double quotes around each pattern.

Target Selection
When no target selection options are given, cargo bench will build the following targets
of the selected packages:

• lib — used to link with binaries and benchmarks

• bins (only if benchmark targets are built and required features are available)

• lib as a benchmark

• bins as benchmarks

• benchmark targets

The default behavior can be changed by setting the bench flag for the target in the
manifest settings. Setting examples to bench = true will build and run the example as a
benchmark, replacing the example’s main function with the libtest harness.

Setting targets to bench = false will stop them from being bencharmked by default. Target
selection options that take a target by name (such as --example foo) ignore the bench flag
and will always benchmark the given target.

See Configuring a target
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/cargo-targets.html#configuring-a-target> for
more information on per-target settings.

Binary targets are automatically built if there is an integration test or benchmark being
selected to benchmark. This allows an integration test to execute the binary to exercise
and test its behavior. The CARGO_BIN_EXE_<name> environment variable
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/environment-variables.html#environment-variables-cargo-sets-for-crates>
is set when the integration test is built so that it can use the env macro
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/macro.env.html> to locate the executable.

Passing target selection flags will benchmark only the specified targets.

Note that --bin, --example, --test and --bench flags also support common Unix glob
patterns like *, ? and []. However, to avoid your shell accidentally expanding glob
patterns before Cargo handles them, you must use single quotes or double quotes around
each glob pattern.

--lib
Benchmark the package’s library.

--bin name…
Benchmark the specified binary. This flag may be specified multiple times and supports
common Unix glob patterns.

--bins
Benchmark all binary targets.

--example name…
Benchmark the specified example. This flag may be specified multiple times and
supports common Unix glob patterns.

--examples
Benchmark all example targets.

--test name…
Benchmark the specified integration test. This flag may be specified multiple times
and supports common Unix glob patterns.

--tests
Benchmark all targets in test mode that have the test = true manifest flag set. By
default this includes the library and binaries built as unittests, and integration
tests. Be aware that this will also build any required dependencies, so the lib target
may be built twice (once as a unittest, and once as a dependency for binaries,
integration tests, etc.). Targets may be enabled or disabled by setting the test flag
in the manifest settings for the target.

--bench name…
Benchmark the specified benchmark. This flag may be specified multiple times and
supports common Unix glob patterns.

--benches
Benchmark all targets in benchmark mode that have the bench = true manifest flag set.
By default this includes the library and binaries built as benchmarks, and bench
targets. Be aware that this will also build any required dependencies, so the lib
target may be built twice (once as a benchmark, and once as a dependency for binaries,
benchmarks, etc.). Targets may be enabled or disabled by setting the bench flag in the
manifest settings for the target.

--all-targets
Benchmark all targets. This is equivalent to specifying --lib --bins --tests --benches
--examples.

Feature Selection
The feature flags allow you to control which features are enabled. When no feature options
are given, the default feature is activated for every selected package.

See the features documentation
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/features.html#command-line-feature-options> for
more details.

-F features, --features features
Space or comma separated list of features to activate. Features of workspace members
may be enabled with package-name/feature-name syntax. This flag may be specified
multiple times, which enables all specified features.

--all-features
Activate all available features of all selected packages.

--no-default-features
Do not activate the default feature of the selected packages.

Compilation Options
--target triple
Benchmark for the given architecture. The default is the host architecture. The
general format of the triple is <arch><sub>-<vendor>-<sys>-<abi>. Run rustc --print
target-list for a list of supported targets. This flag may be specified multiple
times.

This may also be specified with the build.target config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

Note that specifying this flag makes Cargo run in a different mode where the target
artifacts are placed in a separate directory. See the build cache
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/guide/build-cache.html> documentation for more
details.

--profile name
Benchmark with the given profile. See the reference
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/profiles.html> for more details on
profiles.

--ignore-rust-version
Benchmark the target even if the selected Rust compiler is older than the required
Rust version as configured in the project’s rust-version field.

--timings=fmts
Output information how long each compilation takes, and track concurrency information
over time. Accepts an optional comma-separated list of output formats; --timings
without an argument will default to --timings=html. Specifying an output format
(rather than the default) is unstable and requires -Zunstable-options. Valid output
formats:

• html (unstable, requires -Zunstable-options): Write a human-readable file
cargo-timing.html to the target/cargo-timings directory with a report of the
compilation. Also write a report to the same directory with a timestamp in the
filename if you want to look at older runs. HTML output is suitable for human
consumption only, and does not provide machine-readable timing data.

• json (unstable, requires -Zunstable-options): Emit machine-readable JSON
information about timing information.

Output Options
--target-dir directory
Directory for all generated artifacts and intermediate files. May also be specified
with the CARGO_TARGET_DIR environment variable, or the build.target-dir config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>. Defaults to target in the
root of the workspace.

Display Options
By default the Rust test harness hides output from benchmark execution to keep results
readable. Benchmark output can be recovered (e.g., for debugging) by passing --nocapture
to the benchmark binaries:

cargo bench -- --nocapture

-v, --verbose
Use verbose output. May be specified twice for “very verbose” output which includes
extra output such as dependency warnings and build script output. May also be
specified with the term.verbose config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

-q, --quiet
Do not print cargo log messages. May also be specified with the term.quiet config
value <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

--color when
Control when colored output is used. Valid values:

• auto (default): Automatically detect if color support is available on the terminal.

• always: Always display colors.

• never: Never display colors.

May also be specified with the term.color config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

--message-format fmt
The output format for diagnostic messages. Can be specified multiple times and
consists of comma-separated values. Valid values:

• human (default): Display in a human-readable text format. Conflicts with short and
json.

• short: Emit shorter, human-readable text messages. Conflicts with human and json.

• json: Emit JSON messages to stdout. See the reference
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/external-tools.html#json-messages> for
more details. Conflicts with human and short.

• json-diagnostic-short: Ensure the rendered field of JSON messages contains the
“short” rendering from rustc. Cannot be used with human or short.

• json-diagnostic-rendered-ansi: Ensure the rendered field of JSON messages contains
embedded ANSI color codes for respecting rustc’s default color scheme. Cannot be
used with human or short.

• json-render-diagnostics: Instruct Cargo to not include rustc diagnostics in JSON
messages printed, but instead Cargo itself should render the JSON diagnostics
coming from rustc. Cargo’s own JSON diagnostics and others coming from rustc are
still emitted. Cannot be used with human or short.

Manifest Options
--manifest-path path
Path to the Cargo.toml file. By default, Cargo searches for the Cargo.toml file in the
current directory or any parent directory.

--frozen, --locked
Either of these flags requires that the Cargo.lock file is up-to-date. If the lock
file is missing, or it needs to be updated, Cargo will exit with an error. The
--frozen flag also prevents Cargo from attempting to access the network to determine
if it is out-of-date.

These may be used in environments where you want to assert that the Cargo.lock file is
up-to-date (such as a CI build) or want to avoid network access.

--offline
Prevents Cargo from accessing the network for any reason. Without this flag, Cargo
will stop with an error if it needs to access the network and the network is not
available. With this flag, Cargo will attempt to proceed without the network if
possible.

Beware that this may result in different dependency resolution than online mode. Cargo
will restrict itself to crates that are downloaded locally, even if there might be a
newer version as indicated in the local copy of the index. See the cargo-fetch(1)
command to download dependencies before going offline.

May also be specified with the net.offline config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

Common Options
+toolchain
If Cargo has been installed with rustup, and the first argument to cargo begins with
+, it will be interpreted as a rustup toolchain name (such as +stable or +nightly).
See the rustup documentation <https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/overrides.html> for
more information about how toolchain overrides work.

--config KEY=VALUE or PATH
Overrides a Cargo configuration value. The argument should be in TOML syntax of
KEY=VALUE, or provided as a path to an extra configuration file. This flag may be
specified multiple times. See the command-line overrides section
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html#command-line-overrides> for
more information.

-C PATH
Changes the current working directory before executing any specified operations. This
affects things like where cargo looks by default for the project manifest
(Cargo.toml), as well as the directories searched for discovering .cargo/config.toml,
for example. This option must appear before the command name, for example cargo -C
path/to/my-project build.

This option is only available on the nightly channel
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/appendix-07-nightly-rust.html> and requires the -Z
unstable-options flag to enable (see #10098
<https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/10098>).

-h, --help
Prints help information.

-Z flag
Unstable (nightly-only) flags to Cargo. Run cargo -Z help for details.

Miscellaneous Options
The --jobs argument affects the building of the benchmark executable but does not affect
how many threads are used when running the benchmarks. The Rust test harness runs
benchmarks serially in a single thread.

-j N, --jobs N
Number of parallel jobs to run. May also be specified with the build.jobs config value
<https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>. Defaults to the number of
logical CPUs. If negative, it sets the maximum number of parallel jobs to the number
of logical CPUs plus provided value. If a string default is provided, it sets the
value back to defaults. Should not be 0.

While cargo bench involves compilation, it does not provide a --keep-going flag. Use
--no-fail-fast to run as many benchmarks as possible without stopping at the first
failure. To “compile” as many benchmarks as possible, use --benches to build benchmark
binaries separately. For example:

cargo build --benches --release --keep-going
cargo bench --no-fail-fast

ENVIRONMENT

       See the reference <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/environment-variables.html>
       for details on environment variables that Cargo reads.

EXIT STATUS

       •  0: Cargo succeeded.

       •  101: Cargo failed to complete.

EXAMPLES

        1. Build and execute all the benchmarks of the current package:

               cargo bench

        2. Run only a specific benchmark within a specific benchmark target:

               cargo bench --bench bench_name -- modname::some_benchmark