Support for running without Cargo (using bazel or buck2 as the build system)

[thinety]

Is there support for running Nextest without Cargo? That is, using only the binary that rustc --test outputs.

I have skimmed through the codebase, but I'm afraid I don't have the skills to be sure about it.

[sunshowers]

Thanks for the question!

Nextest does support running without cargo, with the build archive and reuse functionality. See https://nexte.st/book/reusing-builds.html#non-requirements.

You do need Cargo to actually do the build though. At this time we have no interest in supporting alternative build systems like Bazel.

[thinety]

I had no idea about the archive/reuse functionality. Thanks for pointing it out.

Unfortunately, I am more interested in the second part of your response. Is the metadata provided by Cargo a hard requirement, or is it technically possible for Nextest to interface directly with a rustc --test-binary? If so, would you be willing to accept a PR?

[sunshowers]

Sorry about the late response -- I had a long comment typed up but lost it because my browser crashed.

I'm honestly not sure! It really depends on the specifics: how invasive it is (moderately concerned about this) and how much work it would be to maintain and test against (very concerned).

How about if you try forking nextest under its Free Software licenses and making your changes there? We can figure out whether an integration works once you have some changes done. Worst case you can maintain your fork.

[sunshowers]

See also #1789.