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authorJakub Beránek <berykubik@gmail.com>2025-08-13 07:03:48 +0200
committerGitHub <noreply@github.com>2025-08-13 07:03:48 +0200
commit4b1deef096d6bc6f98a2de6afc31d5d25c1905af (patch)
tree188662a0dfc7fadf004e0a43dbb245b57d2f83c8
parentff44871be5b5bd6027c4956eb6d4520e87974c1e (diff)
parentc1a31d81031613a52b509f75ddc8cdf7285cc43a (diff)
downloadrust-4b1deef096d6bc6f98a2de6afc31d5d25c1905af.tar.gz
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Rollup merge of #145269 - epage:test-env, r=jhpratt
Deprecate RUST_TEST_* env variables

Like with rust-lang/rust#139224, this is a documentation-only deprecation for now. Over time, we can
- warn and then remove on use of unstable environment variables
- warn on use of stable environment variables (no plan to remove due to compatibility)

Longer term, we expect test runners, like `cargo test`, to provide the necessary mechanisms for environmental or persistent configuration (e.g. using cargo config which supports `.cargo/config.toml` as well as environment variables).

This would include:
- `RUST_TEST_THREADS`
- `RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE`
- `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE` (unstable)
- `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE_SEED` (unstable)

The primary outcomes for this change are
- Reducing the scope of what is expected for custom test harnesses to implement
- Reduce the mechanisms that test runners, like `cargo test`, are expected to track when they are being bypassed to protect against negative interactions, e.g.  `RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE=1` when json output is being read.

For testing-devex FCP, see rust-lang/testing-devex-team#10

Fixes rust-lang/testing-devex-team#10

History
-------

At each step, I could not find evidence of design discussions on whether to support CLI, env, or both.  The first env variable seems to come from the fact that it was being forked out of an existing env variable that had a much wider scope.

At best, this seems like a way to offer a more persistent configuration for these flags but environment variables hidden away in libtest is a bit clunky and this seems like the wrong layer to handle this problem.

**Originally:** `RUST_THREADS` was respected by the Rust runtime and libextra/test got this for free

**2013:** rust-lang/rust#7335 suggested splitting `RUST_TEST_TASKS` out of `RUST_THREADS`.  In that issue and the implementation (rust-lang/rust#8823).

**2014:** rust-lang/rust#13374 ask for support to disable capturing of stdout/stderr.  `--nocapture` and `RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE` were added together.

**2015:** rust-lang/rust#23525 renamed `RUST_TEST_TASKS` to `RUST_TEST_THREADS`

**2016:** rust-lang/rust#25636 asked to configure `RUST_TEST_THREADS` via `--test-threads` which was implemented in rust-lang/rust#35414

**2021:** rust-lang/rust#85440 asked for test randomization which was implemented in rust-lang/rust#89082, adding `--shuffle` / RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE` and `--shuffle-seed SEED` / `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE_SEED`

Potentially relevant issues
---------------------------

- rust-lang/rust#74845
-rw-r--r--library/test/src/cli.rs17
-rw-r--r--src/doc/rustc/src/tests/index.md8
2 files changed, 12 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/library/test/src/cli.rs b/library/test/src/cli.rs
index 8840714a662..1b3f9e2564c 100644
--- a/library/test/src/cli.rs
+++ b/library/test/src/cli.rs
@@ -162,18 +162,17 @@ tests whose names contain the filter are run. Multiple filter strings may
 be passed, which will run all tests matching any of the filters.
 
 By default, all tests are run in parallel. This can be altered with the
---test-threads flag or the RUST_TEST_THREADS environment variable when running
-tests (set it to 1).
+--test-threads flag when running tests (set it to 1).
 
-By default, the tests are run in alphabetical order. Use --shuffle or set
-RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE to run the tests in random order. Pass the generated
-"shuffle seed" to --shuffle-seed (or set RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE_SEED) to run the
-tests in the same order again. Note that --shuffle and --shuffle-seed do not
-affect whether the tests are run in parallel.
+By default, the tests are run in alphabetical order. Use --shuffle to run
+the tests in random order. Pass the generated "shuffle seed" to
+--shuffle-seed to run the tests in the same order again. Note that
+--shuffle and --shuffle-seed do not affect whether the tests are run in
+parallel.
 
 All tests have their standard output and standard error captured by default.
-This can be overridden with the --no-capture flag or setting RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE
-environment variable to a value other than "0". Logging is not captured by default.
+This can be overridden with the --no-capture flag to a value other than "0".
+Logging is not captured by default.
 
 Test Attributes:
 
diff --git a/src/doc/rustc/src/tests/index.md b/src/doc/rustc/src/tests/index.md
index 12de69a4c9e..7609ed23351 100644
--- a/src/doc/rustc/src/tests/index.md
+++ b/src/doc/rustc/src/tests/index.md
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ Sets the number of threads to use for running tests in parallel. By default,
 uses the amount of concurrency available on the hardware as indicated by
 [`available_parallelism`].
 
-This can also be specified with the `RUST_TEST_THREADS` environment variable.
+Deprecated: this can also be specified with the `RUST_TEST_THREADS` environment variable.
 
 #### `--force-run-in-process`
 
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ docs](../../unstable-book/compiler-flags/report-time.html) for more information.
 
 Runs the tests in random order, as opposed to the default alphabetical order.
 
-This may also be specified by setting the `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE` environment
+Deprecated: this may also be specified by setting the `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE` environment
 variable to anything but `0`.
 
 The random number generator seed that is output can be passed to
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ the tests in the same order both times.
 _SEED_ is any 64-bit unsigned integer, for example, one produced by
 [`--shuffle`](#--shuffle).
 
-This can also be specified with the `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE_SEED` environment
+Deprecated: this can also be specified with the `RUST_TEST_SHUFFLE_SEED` environment
 variable.
 
 ⚠️ 🚧 This option is [unstable](#unstable-options), and requires the `-Z
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ Does not capture the stdout and stderr of the test, and allows tests to print
 to the console. Usually the output is captured, and only displayed if the test
 fails.
 
-This may also be specified by setting the `RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE` environment
+Deprecated: this may also be specified by setting the `RUST_TEST_NOCAPTURE` environment
 variable to anything but `0`.
 
 `--nocapture` is a deprecated alias for `--no-capture`.