rustup

rustup is a toolchain installer and version management utility for the Rust programming language. It provides an easy way to install the Rust toolchain and to switch between multiple versions and configurations, including the stable, beta, and nightly channels. rustup supports per-user and per-project overrides, as well as profiles that control which components are installed by default.

rustup works across Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is installed with a small bootstrap launcher (rustup-init) that configures a dedicated rustup home directory and adds the cargo bin directory to the system PATH. The toolchains, their components, and their targets are stored under the rustup directory and in the toolchain directories. Within a toolchain, users can install components such as cargo, rustc, rust-std, and rust-src, and add targets for cross-compiling to other architectures. Toolchains can be installed, updated, or removed, and the default toolchain can be changed globally. Projects can opt into a specific toolchain by using rustup override or by placing a rust-toolchain.toml file in the project directory.

Common commands include: rustup toolchain install <channel>, rustup default <toolchain>, rustup update, rustup component add <component>, rustup target add <target>, rustup show, and rustup override set <toolchain>. The stable, beta, and nightly channels provide differing levels of stability and access to newer features. Rustup is the recommended official installer for Rust and is maintained by the Rust project.