How to switch between Rust toolchains?

Question

rustup help toolchain lists the following sub-commands

SUBCOMMANDS:
    list         List installed toolchains
    install      Install or update a given toolchain
    uninstall    Uninstall a toolchain
    link         Create a custom toolchain by symlinking to a directory
    help         Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

I have the following toolchains installed

stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (default)
nightly-2019-09-05-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
master

I was trying to solve an issue for rust-clippy so I had to install the master toolchain. Even though stable is set as my default toolchain, my current toolchain is master and I would like to switch back to stable. How do I do it without uninstalling the master toolchain?

Is there no switch subcommand?

AFAIK, there is no "current" toolchain unless you set environment variables. You're either running it like `cargo +nightly clippy` or you're using the default toolchain. — PitaJ, Oct 03 '19 at 20:44
@PitaJ, running `rustup default` will tell you the default toolchain cargo will use by default unless specified otherwise in a `.toml` config file. — Optimistic Peach, Oct 04 '19 at 02:02

score 122 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 22 '23 at 19:40

122

Of course the rustup default stable command works well, but the easiest way is to keep a rust-toolchain file inside your project root folder. Similar to how you'd keep a .nvm file for a Node.js project.

Please note that if you use rust-toolchain.toml instead of just rust-toolchain you will need to add needed sections similar to JSON ref and hence I prefer just the simple rust-toolchain file which doesn't need any sections similar to Node.js's .nvm file.

rust-toolchain

nightly

or

stable

edited Jan 22 '23 at 19:40

Matthias Braun

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answered Nov 05 '20 at 17:05

STEEL

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2

This seems like the more conventional/robust approach so upvoted. – Dylan Kerler Dec 01 '20 at 14:19
2

Why does this setting go in a weird extra file I've never heard of instead of the Cargo.toml? – mako Dec 16 '22 at 23:36

score 62 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 04 '21 at 14:21

62

Use rustup default <toolchain> to change the default toolchain. You can use the full name (e.g. rustup default stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu) or a short alias (e.g. rustup default stable).

rustup also has methods to override the default in a more scoped manner. See Overrides in the rustup book.

edited Mar 04 '21 at 14:21

Jason Orendorff

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answered Oct 04 '19 at 00:29

Francis Gagné

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What if I just want to use switch toolchains temporarily, e.g. also to use `cargo clippy`, when my default toolchain is nightly? – James Ray Nov 29 '19 at 03:52
3

I found the answer: https://github.com/rust-lang/rustup#toolchain-override-shorthand. In the above scenario, I can do `cargo +stable clippy` – James Ray Nov 29 '19 at 04:01
Is there any minimal toolchain? I'm only interested in running a few commands such as `cargo generate-lockfile` and `cargo tree` – n1nsa1d00 Jul 05 '21 at 15:56

score 58 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 09 '21 at 16:14

58

To toggle between nightly and stable configurations in your repo use:

rustup override set nightly

or:

rustup override set stable

answered Jan 09 '21 at 16:14

Rob123

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score 12 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 27 '21 at 19:46

12

rustup default stable should work. This will set stable as the default toolchain globally.

To set stable as the default toolchain for just one directory/ project, use rustup override set stable command instead. To unset it, use rustup override unset.

answered Feb 27 '21 at 19:46

Haris Muzaffar

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How to switch between Rust toolchains?

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