2025-04-07

Install Rust Binaries without Compiling (ft. cargo-binstall)

Issue

Recognize this?

Yes… Yes… The unending process of cargo build when you want to install a Rust binary. It can be quite annoying as well as it feels like your computer is having a seizure. You are just trying to install a simple tool like ripgrep or fd and it takes ages to compile. Well, they are available as binaries. Why not just fetch the binary instead of compiling it?

Possible Solutions

You could manually download the binary from the GitHub releases page. But that is a hassle. You have to find the right version, download it, also maintain it and update it manually. This is not a good solution.

Meet cargo-binstall

cargo-binstall is a tool that allows you to install Rust binaries without the need to compile them from source. It fetches precompiled binaries (if available) from the crates.io registry and installs them directly to your system. This leaves you with a much faster installation process and saves you from the hassle of waiting for the compilation to finish.

That only took 13.5 seconds to install bat! And all that time took just to fetch the binary. Depending on your internet speed, it would obviously be faster since my internet speed sucks.

All you just have to do is put the correct name for the binary you want to have installed. For example, to install bat, you can run:

cargo binstall bat

Bonus cargo-install-update

Another nifty tool that I like to use along with cargo-binstall is cargo-install-update. It allows you to update all the installed Rust binaries without you manually checking for updates and selecting packages to.

Usage:

1. Update a specific binary: Suppose you want to update bat:

   cargo install-update bat
   

2. Update all installed binaries: Now that you have installed a lot of Rust binaries, updating them one by one can be a hassle. You can update all of them by:

   cargo install-update -a
   

3. Check for outdated binaries: That’s all well and good, but maybe you want to check for outdated binaries and not install them just now. Just do: running:

   cargo install-update -l
   

Looks like I need to update cargo-binstall. BTW, realised you can also list all the installed binaries in this manner?

Links:

• cargo-binstall: https://github.com/cargo-bins/cargo-binstall
• cargo-install-update: https://github.com/nabijaczleweli/cargo-update