failure in conjunction with cargo_metadata and embed-licensing

[benaryorg]

Versions

thing	version
OS	NixOS 24.11
cargo-auditable	0.6.5
Rust	1.82.0

thing	version
OS	Debian Testing
cargo-auditable	0.6.6
Rust	1.85.0

I'm seeing this on NixOS and a Debian Live ISO (stable can't install cargo-auditable due to rustc version) so it looks like a distro agnostic thing, and the minimal reproducer should yield the same elsewhere.

Description

It seems that some interaction that works with plain cargo fails with cargo-auditable, specifically when using embed-licensing (crates.io) which uses cargo_metadata under the hood.

full error message

error: failed to run `rustc` to learn about target-specific information

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/nix/store/djyg0h4xszycx7z2hlr7b1gkqcnldgjf-cargo-auditable-0.6.5/bin/cargo-auditable rustc - --crate-name ___ --print=file-names --crate-type bin --crate-type rlib --crate-type dylib --crate-type cdylib --crate-type staticlib --crate-type proc-macro --print=sysroot --print=split-debuginfo --print=crate-name --print=cfg` (exit status: 101)
  --- stderr
  thread 'main' panicked at cargo-auditable/src/rustc_wrapper.rs:91:36:
  called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: MissingOption(Keys(["--out-dir", ""]))
  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace

Here's the -vv output for both regular cargo and cargo-auditable:

cargo build -vv

cargo-auditable:

% cargo build -vv
       Fresh unicode-ident v1.0.18
       Fresh proc-macro2 v1.0.95
       Fresh memchr v2.7.4
       Fresh quote v1.0.40
       Fresh ryu v1.0.20
       Fresh syn v2.0.100
       Fresh itoa v1.0.15
       Fresh smallvec v1.15.0
       Fresh serde_derive v1.0.219
       Fresh thiserror-impl v1.0.69
       Fresh current_platform v0.2.0
       Fresh spdx v0.10.8
       Fresh serde v1.0.219
       Fresh thiserror v1.0.69
       Fresh camino v1.1.9
       Fresh serde_json v1.0.140
       Fresh cargo-platform v0.1.9
       Fresh semver v1.0.26
       Fresh cargo_metadata v0.18.1
       Fresh embed-licensing-core v0.3.1
       Fresh embed-licensing-macros v0.3.1
       Fresh embed-licensing v0.3.1
   Compiling mrp v0.1.0 (/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp)
     Running `CARGO=/nix/store/4iz0m1fyp6i1wcbf116jdif4x6k3dv0m-cargo-1.82.0/bin/.cargo-wrapped CARGO_BIN_NAME=mrp CARGO_CRATE_NAME=mrp CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp CARGO_PKG_AUTHORS='' CARGO_PKG_DESCRIPTION='' CARGO_PKG_HOMEPAGE='https://gist.github.com/benaryorg/f365840cdf35216fe6cf18be0e501712' CARGO_PKG_LICENSE=Unlicense CARGO_PKG_LICENSE_FILE='' CARGO_PKG_NAME=mrp CARGO_PKG_README='' CARGO_PKG_REPOSITORY='' CARGO_PKG_RUST_VERSION='' CARGO_PKG_VERSION=0.1.0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MAJOR=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MINOR=1 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PATCH=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PRE='' CARGO_PRIMARY_PACKAGE=1 CARGO_RUSTC_CURRENT_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps:/nix/store/qc45mh0cr5zf8181kzhqazh87hsvdwlc-pipewire-1.2.7-jack/lib' /nix/store/djyg0h4xszycx7z2hlr7b1gkqcnldgjf-cargo-auditable-0.6.5/bin/cargo-auditable rustc --crate-name mrp --edition=2021 main.rs --error-format=json --json=diagnostic-rendered-ansi,artifacts,future-incompat --diagnostic-width=159 --crate-type bin --emit=dep-info,link -C embed-bitcode=no -C debuginfo=2 --check-cfg 'cfg(docsrs)' --check-cfg 'cfg(feature, values())' -C metadata=7aa1a8469c1b0f0e -C extra-filename=-7aa1a8469c1b0f0e --out-dir /home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps -C incremental=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/incremental -L dependency=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps --extern embed_licensing=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps/libembed_licensing-1df75a179ce64d15.rlib`
error: proc macro panicked
 --> main.rs:3:34
  |
3 |     println!("license info: {:#?}", embed_licensing::collect!());
  |                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  |
  = help: message: metadata collection failed: CargoMetadata(CargoMetadata { stderr: "error: failed to run `rustc` to learn about target-specific information\n\nCaused by:\n  process didn't exit successfully: `/nix/store/djyg0h4xszycx7z2hlr7b1gkqcnldgjf-cargo-auditable-0.6.5/bin/cargo-auditable rustc - --crate-name ___ --print=file-names --crate-type bin --crate-type rlib --crate-type dylib --crate-type cdylib --crate-type staticlib --crate-type proc-macro --print=sysroot --print=split-debuginfo --print=crate-name --print=cfg` (exit status: 101)\n  --- stderr\n  thread 'main' panicked at cargo-auditable/src/rustc_wrapper.rs:91:36:\n  called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: MissingOption(Keys([\"--out-dir\", \"\"]))\n  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace\n" })

error: could not compile `mrp` (bin "mrp") due to 1 previous error

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `CARGO=/nix/store/4iz0m1fyp6i1wcbf116jdif4x6k3dv0m-cargo-1.82.0/bin/.cargo-wrapped CARGO_BIN_NAME=mrp CARGO_CRATE_NAME=mrp CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp CARGO_PKG_AUTHORS='' CARGO_PKG_DESCRIPTION='' CARGO_PKG_HOMEPAGE='https://gist.github.com/benaryorg/f365840cdf35216fe6cf18be0e501712' CARGO_PKG_LICENSE=Unlicense CARGO_PKG_LICENSE_FILE='' CARGO_PKG_NAME=mrp CARGO_PKG_README='' CARGO_PKG_REPOSITORY='' CARGO_PKG_RUST_VERSION='' CARGO_PKG_VERSION=0.1.0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MAJOR=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MINOR=1 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PATCH=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PRE='' CARGO_PRIMARY_PACKAGE=1 CARGO_RUSTC_CURRENT_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps:/nix/store/qc45mh0cr5zf8181kzhqazh87hsvdwlc-pipewire-1.2.7-jack/lib' /nix/store/djyg0h4xszycx7z2hlr7b1gkqcnldgjf-cargo-auditable-0.6.5/bin/cargo-auditable rustc --crate-name mrp --edition=2021 main.rs --error-format=json --json=diagnostic-rendered-ansi,artifacts,future-incompat --diagnostic-width=159 --crate-type bin --emit=dep-info,link -C embed-bitcode=no -C debuginfo=2 --check-cfg 'cfg(docsrs)' --check-cfg 'cfg(feature, values())' -C metadata=7aa1a8469c1b0f0e -C extra-filename=-7aa1a8469c1b0f0e --out-dir /home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps -C incremental=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/incremental -L dependency=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps --extern embed_licensing=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps/libembed_licensing-1df75a179ce64d15.rlib` (exit status: 1)

regular cargo:

% /nix/store/4iz0m1fyp6i1wcbf116jdif4x6k3dv0m-cargo-1.82.0/bin/cargo build -vv
       Fresh unicode-ident v1.0.18
       Fresh proc-macro2 v1.0.95
       Fresh quote v1.0.40
       Fresh ryu v1.0.20
       Fresh itoa v1.0.15
       Fresh syn v2.0.100
       Fresh memchr v2.7.4
       Fresh smallvec v1.15.0
       Fresh serde_derive v1.0.219
       Fresh thiserror-impl v1.0.69
       Fresh spdx v0.10.8
       Fresh serde v1.0.219
       Fresh thiserror v1.0.69
       Fresh current_platform v0.2.0
       Fresh camino v1.1.9
       Fresh serde_json v1.0.140
       Fresh semver v1.0.26
       Fresh cargo-platform v0.1.9
   Compiling mrp v0.1.0 (/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp)
     Running `CARGO=/nix/store/4iz0m1fyp6i1wcbf116jdif4x6k3dv0m-cargo-1.82.0/bin/.cargo-wrapped CARGO_BIN_NAME=mrp CARGO_CRATE_NAME=mrp CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp CARGO_PKG_AUTHORS='' CARGO_PKG_DESCRIPTION='' CARGO_PKG_HOMEPAGE='https://gist.github.com/benaryorg/f365840cdf35216fe6cf18be0e501712' CARGO_PKG_LICENSE=Unlicense CARGO_PKG_LICENSE_FILE='' CARGO_PKG_NAME=mrp CARGO_PKG_README='' CARGO_PKG_REPOSITORY='' CARGO_PKG_RUST_VERSION='' CARGO_PKG_VERSION=0.1.0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MAJOR=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_MINOR=1 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PATCH=0 CARGO_PKG_VERSION_PRE='' CARGO_PRIMARY_PACKAGE=1 CARGO_RUSTC_CURRENT_DIR=/tmp/tmp.FtcMN5HT8L/mrp LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps:/nix/store/qc45mh0cr5zf8181kzhqazh87hsvdwlc-pipewire-1.2.7-jack/lib' rustc --crate-name mrp --edition=2021 main.rs --error-format=json --json=diagnostic-rendered-ansi,artifacts,future-incompat --diagnostic-width=159 --crate-type bin --emit=dep-info,link -C embed-bitcode=no -C debuginfo=2 --check-cfg 'cfg(docsrs)' --check-cfg 'cfg(feature, values())' -C metadata=040f5dde8460afd3 -C extra-filename=-040f5dde8460afd3 --out-dir /home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps -C incremental=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/incremental -L dependency=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps --extern embed_licensing=/home/benaryorg/backup_exclude/rust_target/shared/debug/deps/libembed_licensing-1df75a179ce64d15.rlib`
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 3.55s

If I'm hitting some edge-case that intentionally does not work that's meh, but okay.
As someone who has never had any contact with cargo-auditable before I just kind of assumed that it wanted to be 100% compatible with cargo when it comes to invocations.

Minimal Reproducer

The minimal reproducer was already linked above, but here for brevity: https://gist.github.com/benaryorg/f365840cdf35216fe6cf18be0e501712
Running cargo auditable build should suffice to get the error.
Excuse the non-standard main.rs path, but gists having no directories and all that *sigh*

direct invocation for Nix users

If you have Nix (with flakes) sitting around this one will reproduce it off the bat:

nix build --no-link --print-out-paths --print-build-logs git+https://gist.github.com/benaryorg/f365840cdf35216fe6cf18be0e501712

[Shnatsel]

Thanks for the report! I'll check it out. I didn't expect this to be broken.

[Shnatsel]

Hmm, it seems there is an invocation that looks like a compilation command but isn't, and doesn't specify --out-dir, and cargo auditable doesn't handle that correctly. That does look like a bug on the cargo auditable side. I'll see what I can do about that.

[Shnatsel]

I've opened #201 that should fix this.

[Shnatsel]

I'm not 100% sure that PR won't break some other edge case that I didn't anticipate. So any help with testing it on lots of real-world projects would be welcome.

[benaryorg]

Just a quick note; while trying to test the code from the PR I noticed that cargo auditable build can actually build the project. It just fails the first time. Running the command a second time works just fine. Running cargo clean --package <name of toplevel package> breaks it again for one invocation. At least on my end. Anyway, I'll be testing the PR now and report back over there.