Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker #143883

pietroalbini · 2025-07-13T11:00:25Z

In my release notes API list tool (#143053) I want to check whether all links generated by the tool are actually valid, and using linkchecker seems to be the most sensible choice.

Linkchecker currently has a fairly big limitation though: it can only check a single directory, it checks all of the files within it, and link targets must point inside that same directory. This works great when checking the whole documentation package, but in my case I only need to check that one file contains valid links to the standard library docs.

To solve that, this PR adds a new --link-targets-dir flag to linkchecker. Directories passed to it will be valid link targets (with lower priority than the root being checked), but links within them will not be checked.

I'm not that happy with the name of the flag, happy for it to be bikeshedded.

rustbot · 2025-07-13T11:00:44Z

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rustbot · 2025-07-13T11:00:46Z

These commits modify the Cargo.lock file. Unintentional changes to Cargo.lock can be introduced when switching branches and rebasing PRs.

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ehuss

Can you help me understand a little more about how your tool works? Is it generating some intermediate files with relative paths, and then translating them to absolute paths? What do the directory structures look like?

src/tools/linkchecker/Cargo.toml

pietroalbini · 2025-07-16T08:48:26Z

Can you help me understand a little more about how your tool works? Is it generating some intermediate files with relative paths, and then translating them to absolute paths? What do the directory structures look like?

The relnotes-api-list tool generates a JSON file with all stabilized APIs in the standard library, and their documentation URLs. These URLs look like std/option/enum.Option.html#method.unwrap for Option::unwrap.

I want to add a step to the tool verifying all those links are correct. To do so, my current implementation generates a temporary HTML file with an <a> tag for each link. I then generate the standard library docs, and I want to ensure all the links in the temporary file are valid.

In practice, this would be like placing my temporary file in build/host/doc, and running linkchecker on that directory. There are two downsides I found when doing that:

I need to be either extra careful in ensuring the temporary file is removed from build/host/doc, or I need to copy all of build/host/doc in a temporary directory and run linkchecker on that (which I guess won't be the fastest thing on Windows).
Pointing linkchecker to build/host/doc will also check the links in the standard library docs, which requires also generating books, and the pages the books point to.

That's why I decided to add the --link-targets-dir flag: doing --link-targets-dir build/host/doc avoids the need to copy it around, and prevents linkchecker from checking its links (while still allowing other links to link to it).

ehuss · 2025-07-16T20:56:02Z

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for the explanation!

src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs

ehuss

r=ehuss with the windows issue fixed.

src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs

bors · 2025-07-21T22:53:13Z

☔ The latest upstream changes (presumably #144269) made this pull request unmergeable. Please resolve the merge conflicts.

pietroalbini · 2025-07-28T18:28:38Z

@bors r=ehuss

bors · 2025-07-28T18:28:42Z

📌 Commit 6693b39 has been approved by ehuss

It is now in the queue for this repository.

…target, r=ehuss Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker In my release notes API list tool (rust-lang#143053) I want to check whether all links generated by the tool are actually valid, and using linkchecker seems to be the most sensible choice. Linkchecker currently has a fairly big limitation though: it can only check a single directory, it checks *all* of the files within it, and link targets must point inside that same directory. This works great when checking the whole documentation package, but in my case I only need to check that one file contains valid links to the standard library docs. To solve that, this PR adds a new `--link-targets-dir` flag to linkchecker. Directories passed to it will be valid link targets (with lower priority than the root being checked), but links within them will not be checked. I'm not that happy with the name of the flag, happy for it to be bikeshedded.

Rollup of 11 pull requests Successful merges: - #143289 (Remove `[T]::array_chunks(_mut)`) - #143883 (Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker) - #144034 (tests: Test line number in debuginfo for diverging function calls) - #144236 (Add `core::mem::DropGuard`) - #144268 (Add method `find_ancestor_not_from_macro` and `find_ancestor_not_from_extern_macro` to supersede `find_oldest_ancestor_in_same_ctxt`) - #144303 (Consolidate staging for `rustc_private` tools) - #144539 (constify with_exposed_provenance) - #144569 (rustc-dev-guide subtree update) - #144573 (Raw Pointers are Constant PatKinds too) - #144578 (Ensure correct aligement of rustc_hir::Lifetime on platforms with lower default alignments.) - #144582 (fix `Atomic*::as_ptr` wording) r? `@ghost` `@rustbot` modify labels: rollup

…target, r=ehuss Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker In my release notes API list tool (rust-lang#143053) I want to check whether all links generated by the tool are actually valid, and using linkchecker seems to be the most sensible choice. Linkchecker currently has a fairly big limitation though: it can only check a single directory, it checks *all* of the files within it, and link targets must point inside that same directory. This works great when checking the whole documentation package, but in my case I only need to check that one file contains valid links to the standard library docs. To solve that, this PR adds a new `--link-targets-dir` flag to linkchecker. Directories passed to it will be valid link targets (with lower priority than the root being checked), but links within them will not be checked. I'm not that happy with the name of the flag, happy for it to be bikeshedded.

Rollup of 11 pull requests Successful merges: - #143883 (Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker) - #144236 (Add `core::mem::DropGuard`) - #144303 (Consolidate staging for `rustc_private` tools) - #144367 (Move dist-apple-various from x86_64 to aarch64) - #144539 (constify with_exposed_provenance) - #144569 (rustc-dev-guide subtree update) - #144573 (Raw Pointers are Constant PatKinds too) - #144575 (fixed typo chunks->as_chunks) - #144578 (Ensure correct aligement of rustc_hir::Lifetime on platforms with lower default alignments.) - #144582 (fix `Atomic*::as_ptr` wording) - #144616 (coverage: Regression test for "function name is empty" bug) r? `@ghost` `@rustbot` modify labels: rollup

Rollup of 10 pull requests Successful merges: - #143883 (Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker) - #144236 (Add `core::mem::DropGuard`) - #144367 (Move dist-apple-various from x86_64 to aarch64) - #144539 (constify with_exposed_provenance) - #144569 (rustc-dev-guide subtree update) - #144573 (Raw Pointers are Constant PatKinds too) - #144575 (fixed typo chunks->as_chunks) - #144578 (Ensure correct aligement of rustc_hir::Lifetime on platforms with lower default alignments.) - #144582 (fix `Atomic*::as_ptr` wording) - #144616 (coverage: Regression test for "function name is empty" bug) r? `@ghost` `@rustbot` modify labels: rollup

Rollup merge of #143883 - pietroalbini:pa-linkchecker-extra-target, r=ehuss Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker In my release notes API list tool (#143053) I want to check whether all links generated by the tool are actually valid, and using linkchecker seems to be the most sensible choice. Linkchecker currently has a fairly big limitation though: it can only check a single directory, it checks *all* of the files within it, and link targets must point inside that same directory. This works great when checking the whole documentation package, but in my case I only need to check that one file contains valid links to the standard library docs. To solve that, this PR adds a new `--link-targets-dir` flag to linkchecker. Directories passed to it will be valid link targets (with lower priority than the root being checked), but links within them will not be checked. I'm not that happy with the name of the flag, happy for it to be bikeshedded.

rustbot added S-waiting-on-author Status: This is awaiting some action (such as code changes or more information) from the author. T-bootstrap Relevant to the bootstrap subteam: Rust's build system (x.py and src/bootstrap) labels Jul 13, 2025

pietroalbini marked this pull request as ready for review July 13, 2025 11:00

rustbot assigned ehuss Jul 13, 2025

rustbot added S-waiting-on-review Status: Awaiting review from the assignee but also interested parties. and removed S-waiting-on-author Status: This is awaiting some action (such as code changes or more information) from the author. labels Jul 13, 2025

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pietroalbini force-pushed the pa-linkchecker-extra-target branch 3 times, most recently from d51bfa1 to 6831c80 Compare July 13, 2025 11:16

ehuss reviewed Jul 14, 2025

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ehuss reviewed Jul 16, 2025

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pietroalbini force-pushed the pa-linkchecker-extra-target branch 2 times, most recently from 2b12b92 to 2995467 Compare July 17, 2025 08:52

ehuss reviewed Jul 17, 2025

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pietroalbini added 4 commits July 28, 2025 11:05

add support for ./x check src/tools/linkchecker

f29f073

bump linkchecker to edition 2024

c745614

add an argument parser to linkchecker

984926e

add --link-targets-dir flag to linkchecker

6693b39

pietroalbini force-pushed the pa-linkchecker-extra-target branch from 2995467 to 6693b39 Compare July 28, 2025 09:23

bors added S-waiting-on-bors Status: Waiting on bors to run and complete tests. Bors will change the label on completion. and removed S-waiting-on-review Status: Awaiting review from the assignee but also interested parties. labels Jul 28, 2025

samueltardieu mentioned this pull request Jul 28, 2025

Rollup of 11 pull requests #144611

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Zalathar mentioned this pull request Jul 29, 2025

Rollup of 12 pull requests #144618

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Rollup of 12 pull requests #144619

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Rollup of 11 pull requests #144622

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Rollup of 10 pull requests #144624

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bors merged commit 95ce5af into rust-lang:master Jul 29, 2025
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Add `--link-targets-dir` argument to linkchecker #143883

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