How can I build multiple binaries with Cargo?

Question

I\'d like to make a project with a daemon and a client, connecting through a unix socket.

A client and a daemon

Answer 1

You can specify multiple binaries using [[bin]], as mentioned here:

[[bin]]
name = "daemon"
path = "src/daemon/bin/main.rs"

[[bin]]
name = "client"
path = "src/client/bin/main.rs"

Tip: If you instead put these files in src/bin/daemon.rs and src/bin/client.rs, you'll get two executables named daemon and client as Cargo compiles all files in src/bin into executables with the same name automatically. You need to specify names and paths like in the snippet above only if you don't follow this convention.

Answer 2

Another way is to use the workspace feature. This will provide more flexibility due to the fact that we can have more than one library. Example project structure:

.
├── Cargo.toml
├── cli
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src
│       └── main.rs
├── core
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src
│       └── lib.rs
├── daemon
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src
│       └── main.rs
├── gui
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src
│       └── main.rs
└── rpc
    ├── Cargo.toml
    └── src
        └── lib.rs

Contents of the root Cargo.toml:

[workspace]
members = ["cli", "core", "daemon", "gui", "rpc"]

Answer 3

Another format could be to replicate what the Crates.io source code has done, if you have a massive project, something like:

Main Library in src, with a Bin folder with your executables. Then make calls to your main library crate from your executables.

That way you library is centralized so easier to find things as it's cached.