`cargo install` does not respect `.cargo/config.toml`

[thoren-d]

Problem

When I run cargo install ripgrep in a directory with a .cargo/config.toml overriding the install root (like below), it installs to $HOME/.cargo/bin instead.

The interesting thing is that cargo uninstall reads the configured root correctly, so if I immediately run cargo uninstall ripgrep in the same directory, it complains that package ID specification ripgrep did not match any packages.

Contents of .cargo/config.toml:

[install]
root = "./apps"

Steps

1. Create a config file like the one above.
2. Make an apps directory
3. Run cargo install ripgrep (or anything)

Possible Solution(s)

No response

Notes

Also tried nightly just now with the same result.

Obviously I can just cargo install --root apps ..., but I was trying to experiment with patching dependencies and building with different compile options and it seems cargo install is completely ignoring the configuration file.

Version

cargo 1.67.0 (8ecd4f20a 2023-01-10)
release: 1.67.0
commit-hash: 8ecd4f20a9efb626975ac18a016d480dc7183d9b
commit-date: 2023-01-10
host: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
libgit2: 1.5.0 (sys:0.16.0 vendored)
libcurl: 7.86.0-DEV (sys:0.4.59+curl-7.86.0 vendored ssl:Schannel)
os: Windows 10.0.22621 (Windows 10 Pro) [64-bit]

[ehuss]

Thanks for the report! It is intentional behavior that cargo install <registry-package> does not honor the configuration in the current working directory. I think there are two issues here:

• That does not seem to be documented in the cargo install page.
• cargo uninstall should probably have similar behavior to avoid the asymmetry.

[weihanglo]

For the installation root precedence, the rule is not documented at all. It starts searching configurations upward from the given --path, or CARGO_HOME if no --path provided. This should probably be documented as well.

cargo/src/bin/cargo/commands/install.rs

Lines 89 to 95 in efd3733

	let path = args.value_of_path("path", config);
	if let Some(path) = &path {
	config.reload_rooted_at(path)?;
	} else {
	// TODO: Consider calling set_search_stop_path(home).
	config.reload_rooted_at(config.home().clone().into_path_unlocked())?;
	}

I wonder if we could reconsider calling set_search_stop_path(home), though it is definitely a breaking change, so 🤷🏾‍♂️.

[jofas]

• That does not seem to be documented in the cargo install page.

Any reason why cargo install ignores the configuration in the current directory? It would probably be a good idea to add the reason behind this decision to the documentation.

@rustbot claim

[weihanglo]

@jofas
See #6026. The basic idea here is cargo install is a system or user level command instead of project-local. For --path #6804 tells that it makes sense --path respecting project local configurations.

[jofas]

Thanks for the explanation!

[jofas]

I think in order to document the fact that cargo install (and in the future cargo uninstall) only consider the global configuration file in $CARGO_HOME/config.toml, I'd like to add a small note here:

cargo/src/doc/man/includes/description-install-root.md

Line 5 in 4262636

- `install.root` Cargo [config value](../reference/config.html)

Something along the lines of

Note: only the global configuration file $CARGO_HOME/config.toml is considered

As the snippet is only used for the man pages of install and uninstall (and both will have the same behaviour), I think this should be okay?

Somwhere here on the cargo install man page :

cargo/src/doc/man/cargo-install.md

Lines 48 to 50 in 4262636

	Installing with `--path` will always build and install, unless there are
	conflicting binaries from another package. The `--force` flag may be used to
	force Cargo to always reinstall the package.

I'd add a note saying that using --path will change the default behaviour of cargo install to only consider the configuration in $CARGO_HOME/config.toml to the configuration at the given path.

Any thoughts anyone? @weihanglo?

[weihanglo]

I am fine with your suggestion, though it's a bit complicated. Not only install.root is ignored but the entire configuration discovery starts from $CARGO_HOME/config.toml instead of current working directory. I am not sure if it is worth putting so much concepts here. The suggested fix of --path looks good but falls into the same situation as well.

In terms of the display on manpage, I only found one quote usage in man in cargo bench. It looks good to me btw via cargo help bench (the bad part is due to link rendering). If you don't feel satisfied with the way it displays, we can also fall back to starting with plain Note that….

[jofas]

I am not sure if it is worth putting so much concepts here.

That was my reservation, too. I just couldn't figure out a good spot where I could add the relevant information in the text on first glance. Probably one paragraph describing the behaviour a little more detailed than I suggested is better. I'll figure something out and create a PR where we can discuss further details.