RFC: Precise Pre-release cargo update

text/3493-precise-pre-release-cargo-update.md

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+- Feature Name: precise-pre-release-cargo-update
+- Start Date: 2023-09-20
+- RFC PR: [rust-lang/rfcs#3493](https:/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/3493)
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+This RFC proposes extending `cargo update` to allow updates to pre-release versions when requested with `--precise`.
+For example, a `cargo` user would be able to call `cargo update -p dep --precise 0.1.1-pre.0` as long as the version of `dep` requested by their project and its dependencies are semver compatible with `0.1.1`.
+This effectively splits the notion of compatibility in `cargo`.
+A pre-release version may be considered compatible when the version is explicitly requested with `--precise`.
+Cargo will not automatically select that version via a basic `cargo update`.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+Pre-release crates are currently challenging to use in large projects with complex dependency trees.
+For example, if a maintainer releases `dep = "0.1.1-pre.0"`.
+They may ask one of their users to try the new API additions in a large project so that the user can give feedback on the release before the maintainer stabilises the new parts of the API.
+Unfortunately, since `dep = "0.1.0"` is a transitive dependency of several dependencies of the large project, `cargo` refuses the upgrade, stating that `0.1.1-pre.0` is incompatible with `0.1.0`.
+The user is left with no upgrade path to the pre-release unless they are able to convince all of their transitive uses of `dep` to release pre-releases of their own.
+
+# Guide-level explanation
+[guide-level-explanation]: #guide-level-explanation
+
+When Cargo considers `Cargo.toml` requirements for dependencies it always favours selecting stable versions over pre-release versions.
+When the specification is itself a pre-release version, Cargo will always select a pre-release.
+Cargo is unable to resolve a project with a `Cargo.toml` specification for a pre-release version if any of its dependencies request a stable release.
+
+If a user does want to select a pre-release version they are able to do so by explicitly requesting Cargo to update to that version.
+This is done by passing the `--precise` flag to Cargo.
+Cargo will refuse to select pre-release versions that are "incompatible" with the requirement in the projects `Cargo.toml`.
+A pre-release version is considered compatible for a precise upgrade if its major, minor, and patch versions are compatible with the requirement, ignoring its pre-release version.
+`x.y.z-pre.0` is considered compatible with `a.b.c` when requested `--precise`ly if `x.y.z` is semver compatible with `a.b.c` and `a.b.c` `!=` `x.y.z`.
+
+Consider a `Cargo.toml` with this `[dependencies]` section
+
+```
+[dependencies]
+example = "1.0.0"
+```
+
+It is possible to update to `1.2.0-pre.0` because `1.2.0` is semver compatible with `1.0.0`
+
+```
+> cargo update -p example --precise 1.2.0-pre.0
+ Updating crates.io index
+ Updating example v1.0.0 -> v1.2.0-pre.0
+```
+
+It is not possible to update to `2.0.0-pre.0` because `2.0.0` is not semver compatible with `1.0.0`
+
+```
+> cargo update -p example --precise 2.0.0-pre.0
+ Updating crates.io index
+error: failed to select a version for the requirement `example = "^1"`
+candidate versions found which didn't match: 2.0.0-pre.0
+location searched: crates.io index
+required by package `tmp-oyyzsf v0.1.0 (/home/ethan/.cache/cargo-temp/tmp-OYyZsF)`
+```
+
+# Reference-level explanation
+[reference-level-explanation]: #reference-level-explanation
+
+Consider this table where `a.b.c` is compatible with `x.y.z` and `x.y.z > a.b.c`
+
+| Cargo.toml spec | Cargo.lock version | Target version | Selected by cargo update | Selected by cargo update --precise |
+| --------------- | ------------------ | -------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
+| `a.b.c` | `a.b.c` | `x.y.z` | ✅ | ✅ |
+| `a.b.c` | `a.b.c` | `x.y.z-pre.0` | ❌ | ✅ |
+| `a.b.c` | `x.y.z-pre.0` | `x.y.z-pre.1` | ❌ | ✅ |
+| `a.b.c-pre.0` | `a.b.c-pre.0` | `a.b.c-pre.1` | ✅¹ | ✅ |
+| `a.b.c-pre.0` | `a.b.c-pre.0` | `x.y.z` | ✅¹ | ✅ |
+| `a.b.c` | `a.b.c` | `a.b.c-pre.0` | ❌ | ❌ |
+
+✅: Will upgrade
+
+❌: Will not upgrade
+
+¹For backwards compatibility with Cargo's current behaviour (see [RFC: Precise Pre-release Deps](https:/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/3263))
+
+# Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+- Pre-release versions are not easily auditable when they are only specified in the lock file.
+ A change that makes use of a pre-release version may not be noticed during code review as reviewers don't always check for changes in the lock file.
+- Library crates that require a pre-release version are not well supported since their lock files are ignored by their users (see [future-possibilities])
+
+# Rationale and alternatives
+[rationale-and-alternatives]: #rationale-and-alternatives
+
+The main alternative to this would be to accept that pre-release versions are not very usable and discourage their use.
+Cargo overrides can be used instead using `[patch]`.
+These provide a similar experience to pre-releases, however, they require that the library's code is somehow vendored outside of the registry, usually with git.
+This can cause issues particularly in CI where jobs may have permission to fetch from a private registry but not from private git repositories.
+Resolving issues around not being able to fetch pre-releases from the registry usually wastes a significant amount of time.
+
+Another alternative would be to resolve pre-release versions in `Cargo.toml`s even when another dependency specifies a stable version.
+This is explored in [future-possibilities].
+This would require significant changes to the resolver since the latest compatible version would depend on the versions required by other parts of the dependency tree.
+This RFC may be a stepping stone in that direction since it lays the groundwork for pre-release compatibility rules, however, I consider detailing such a change outside of the scope of this RFC.
+
+# Prior art
+[prior-art]: #prior-art
+
+[RFC: Precise Pre-release Deps](https:/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/3263) aims to solve a similar but different issue where `cargo update` opts to upgrade 
+pre-release versions to new pre-releases when one is released.
+
+# Unresolved questions
+[unresolved-questions]: #unresolved-questions
+
+# Future possibilities
+[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
+
+It would be nice if dependencies could specify their requirements for pre-release versions.
+
+Take for example this dependency tree.
+
+```
+example
+├── a ^0.1.0
+│ └── b =0.1.1-pre.0
+└── b ^0.1.0
+```
+
+Since crates ignore the lock files of their dependencies there is no way for `a` to communicate with `example` that it requires features from `b = 0.1.1-pre.0` without breaking `example`'s direct dependency on `b`.
+To enable this we could use the same concept of compatible pre-releases in `Cargo.toml`, not just `Cargo.lock`.
+This would require that pre-releases are specified with `=` and would allow pre-release versions to be requested anywhere within the dependency tree without causing the resolver to throw an error.
+