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feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization#153283

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LukeMathWalker:add-rkyv-support
Mar 11, 2026
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feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization#153283
rust-bors[bot] merged 2 commits intorust-lang:mainfrom
LukeMathWalker:add-rkyv-support

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@LukeMathWalker LukeMathWalker commented Mar 2, 2026

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Motivation

The JSON documents produced by rustdoc-json are big. More often than not, tools need to access a small fraction of that output—e.g. a couple of types from a transitive dependency, or a subset of the fields on a given rustdoc-json-types type.

Using a binary (de)serialization format and a cache helps to drive down the performance cost of deserialization: you invoke rustdoc-json to get the JSON output you need, re-serialize it using a more perfomant format as target (e.g. bincode or postcard) and thus amortize the cost of future queries that hit the persistent cache rather than rustdoc-json.
This is better, but still not great: the deserialization cost for crates like std still shows up prominently in flamegraphs.

An Alternative Approach: rkyv

rkyv provides a different opportunity: you avoid paying the deserialization cost upfront thanks to zero-copy deserialization.
You're often able to determine if you need a certain entry from the JSON document using the archived version of that type, thus incurring the full deserialization cost only for the subset of items you actually need (example).

The Change

This PR adds support for rkyv behind a feature flag (rkyv_0_8).
For most types, it's a straight-forward derive(rkyv::Archive, rkyv::Serialize, rkyv::Deserialize) annotation. For co-recursive types, we need to adjust the generated bounds, using the techniques from rkyv's JSON example.

I have added new round-trip tests to ensure rkyv works as expected.

r? @aDotInTheVoid

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rustbot commented Mar 2, 2026

rustdoc-json-types is a public (although nightly-only) API. If possible, consider changing src/librustdoc/json/conversions.rs; otherwise, make sure you bump the FORMAT_VERSION constant.

cc @CraftSpider, @aDotInTheVoid, @Enselic, @obi1kenobi

@rustbot rustbot added A-rustdoc-json Area: Rustdoc JSON backend S-waiting-on-review Status: Awaiting review from the assignee but also interested parties. T-rustdoc Relevant to the rustdoc team, which will review and decide on the PR/issue. labels Mar 2, 2026
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rustbot commented Mar 2, 2026

aDotInTheVoid is currently at their maximum review capacity.
They may take a while to respond.

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This makes sense as a thing to add.

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#[cfg(feature = "rkyv_0_8")]
mod rkyv {
use std::fmt::Debug;
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These tests don't run. When I applied

diff --git a/src/rustdoc-json-types/tests.rs b/src/rustdoc-json-types/tests.rs
index e878350e43b..258c22304c3 100644
--- a/src/rustdoc-json-types/tests.rs
+++ b/src/rustdoc-json-types/tests.rs
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ fn test_union_info_roundtrip() {

 #[cfg(feature = "rkyv_0_8")]
 mod rkyv {
+    #[test]
+    fn definenly_fails() {
+        panic!("at least the rkyv tests were ran");
+    }
+
     use std::fmt::Debug;

     use rkyv::Archive;

Running ./x test ./src/rustdoc-json-types/ still passed.

The fix (I think) is to enable this feature in bootsrap:

diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/test.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/test.rs
index 88f10775333..ab1d2b8a24b 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/test.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/test.rs
@@ -3302,7 +3302,7 @@ fn run(self, builder: &Builder<'_>) {
             builder.kind,
             "src/rustdoc-json-types",
             SourceType::InTree,
-            &[],
+            &["rkyv_0_8".to_owned()],
         );

         // FIXME: this looks very wrong, libtest doesn't accept `-C` arguments and the quotes are fishy.

(CC @jieyouxu, is this ok to do?)

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Apologies, I had only tested the crate directly via local cargo test, under the implicit assumption that the testing infrastructure would automatically pick up feature flags for matrix testing.
I've added the feature flag to the bootstrap script, let me know if other changes are needed.

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@rustbot rustbot removed the S-waiting-on-review Status: Awaiting review from the assignee but also interested parties. label Mar 3, 2026
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rustbot commented Mar 3, 2026

Reminder, once the PR becomes ready for a review, use @rustbot ready.

@rustbot rustbot added S-waiting-on-author Status: This is awaiting some action (such as code changes or more information) from the author. A-testsuite Area: The testsuite used to check the correctness of rustc T-bootstrap Relevant to the bootstrap subteam: Rust's build system (x.py and src/bootstrap) labels Mar 3, 2026
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@rustbot ready

@rustbot 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 Mar 3, 2026
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Thanks, I hope this helps perf.

r=me with commits squashed, and when someone from T-bootstrap signs off that 39f7f0d is ok.

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Commits have been squashed @aDotInTheVoid. What's the best way to get a reviewer from T-bootstrap (or is your tag in the thread enough)?

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I asked on zulip (#t-infra/bootstrap > Review Request: Adding a feature in a test step.). Seems fine. (Sorry, I should've made that clear here).

@bors r+ rollup

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rust-bors bot commented Mar 9, 2026

📌 Commit 1d81c50 has been approved by aDotInTheVoid

It is now in the queue for this repository.

@rust-bors rust-bors bot 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 Mar 9, 2026
aDotInTheVoid added a commit to aDotInTheVoid/rustdoc-types-contrib that referenced this pull request Mar 9, 2026
JonathanBrouwer added a commit to JonathanBrouwer/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 9, 2026
…=aDotInTheVoid

feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization

## Motivation

The JSON documents produced by `rustdoc-json` are _big_. More often than not, tools need to access a small fraction of that output—e.g. a couple of types from a transitive dependency, or a subset of the fields on a given `rustdoc-json-types` type.

Using a binary (de)serialization format and a cache helps to drive down the performance cost of deserialization: you invoke `rustdoc-json` to get the JSON output you need, re-serialize it using a more perfomant format as target (e.g. `bincode` or `postcard`) and thus amortize the cost of future queries that hit the persistent cache rather than `rustdoc-json`.
This is _better_, but still not great: the deserialization cost for crates like `std` still shows up prominently in flamegraphs.

## An Alternative Approach: rkyv

`rkyv` provides a different opportunity: you avoid paying the deserialization cost _upfront_ thanks to [zero-copy deserialization](https://rkyv.org/zero-copy-deserialization.html).
You're often able to determine if you need a certain entry from the JSON document using the archived version of that type, thus incurring the full deserialization cost only for the subset of items you actually need ([example](LukeMathWalker/pavex@d067e7e)).

## The Change

This PR adds support for `rkyv` behind a feature flag (`rkyv_0_8`).
For most types, it's a straight-forward `derive(rkyv::Archive, rkyv::Serialize, rkyv::Deserialize)` annotation. For co-recursive types, we need to adjust the generated bounds, using the techniques from [`rkyv`'s JSON example](https://github.com/rkyv/rkyv/blob/985b0230a0b9cb9fce4a4ee9facb6af148e27c8e/rkyv/examples/json_like_schema.rs).

I have added new round-trip tests to ensure `rkyv` works as expected.

r? @aDotInTheVoid
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rust-bors bot commented Mar 9, 2026

This pull request was unapproved.

This PR was contained in a rollup (#153625), which was unapproved.

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There was a failure due to rkyv's intra-doc links not resolving when the library is built with --no-deps. I've amended the crate docs in 1f05c76 to avoid the issue.

r? @aDotInTheVoid

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Requested reviewer is already assigned to this pull request.

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I assume then that the right incantation is:

@rustbot ready

@rustbot 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 Mar 10, 2026
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@bors try jobs=dist-x86_64-linux-alt
@bors r=aDotInTheVoid

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rust-bors bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization


try-job: dist-x86_64-linux-alt
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rust-bors bot commented Mar 10, 2026

📌 Commit 1f05c76 has been approved by aDotInTheVoid

It is now in the queue for this repository.

🌲 The tree is currently closed for pull requests below priority 1000. This pull request will be tested once the tree is reopened.

@rust-bors rust-bors bot added S-waiting-on-bors Status: Waiting on bors to run and complete tests. Bors will change the label on completion. S-waiting-on-author Status: This is awaiting some action (such as code changes or more information) from the author. and removed S-waiting-on-review Status: Awaiting review from the assignee but also interested parties. labels Mar 10, 2026
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rust-bors bot commented Mar 10, 2026

💔 Test for 11041de failed: CI. Failed job:

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JonathanBrouwer commented Mar 10, 2026

That's github CI being funny, not this PRs fault...
The fix looks fine to me so lets just keep this approved

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A job failed! Check out the build log: (web) (plain enhanced) (plain)

Click to see the possible cause of the failure (guessed by this bot)

JonathanBrouwer added a commit to JonathanBrouwer/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
…=aDotInTheVoid

feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization

## Motivation

The JSON documents produced by `rustdoc-json` are _big_. More often than not, tools need to access a small fraction of that output—e.g. a couple of types from a transitive dependency, or a subset of the fields on a given `rustdoc-json-types` type.

Using a binary (de)serialization format and a cache helps to drive down the performance cost of deserialization: you invoke `rustdoc-json` to get the JSON output you need, re-serialize it using a more perfomant format as target (e.g. `bincode` or `postcard`) and thus amortize the cost of future queries that hit the persistent cache rather than `rustdoc-json`.
This is _better_, but still not great: the deserialization cost for crates like `std` still shows up prominently in flamegraphs.

## An Alternative Approach: rkyv

`rkyv` provides a different opportunity: you avoid paying the deserialization cost _upfront_ thanks to [zero-copy deserialization](https://rkyv.org/zero-copy-deserialization.html).
You're often able to determine if you need a certain entry from the JSON document using the archived version of that type, thus incurring the full deserialization cost only for the subset of items you actually need ([example](LukeMathWalker/pavex@d067e7e)).

## The Change

This PR adds support for `rkyv` behind a feature flag (`rkyv_0_8`).
For most types, it's a straight-forward `derive(rkyv::Archive, rkyv::Serialize, rkyv::Deserialize)` annotation. For co-recursive types, we need to adjust the generated bounds, using the techniques from [`rkyv`'s JSON example](https://github.com/rkyv/rkyv/blob/985b0230a0b9cb9fce4a4ee9facb6af148e27c8e/rkyv/examples/json_like_schema.rs).

I have added new round-trip tests to ensure `rkyv` works as expected.

r? @aDotInTheVoid
rust-bors bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
…uwer

Rollup of 14 pull requests

Successful merges:

 - #149130 (Implement coercions between `&pin (mut|const) T` and `&(mut) T` when `T: Unpin`)
 - #152457 (Pass -pg to linker when using -Zinstrument-mcount)
 - #153143 (Allow `./x test` to run tests without doc tests and without benchmarks)
 - #153471 (Refactor `ActiveJobGuard`)
 - #153595 (`QueryLatch` cleanups)
 - #153653 (scalable vector: type renames and simple checks)
 - #152302 (fix: don't suggest replacing `env!("CARGO_BIN_NAME")` with itself)
 - #153283 (feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization)
 - #153479 (Add rationale for intentional potential_query_instability allows)
 - #153533 (Fix LegacyKeyValueFormat report from docker build: miscellaneous)
 - #153600 (add test for proc-macros with custom panic payloads)
 - #153643 (Avoid projection-only suggestions for inherent assoc types)
 - #153657 (triagebot: remove myself from some mention groups)
 - #153659 (Mark an unreachable match arm as such)
rust-bors bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
…uwer

Rollup of 13 pull requests

Successful merges:

 - #149130 (Implement coercions between `&pin (mut|const) T` and `&(mut) T` when `T: Unpin`)
 - #153143 (Allow `./x test` to run tests without doc tests and without benchmarks)
 - #153471 (Refactor `ActiveJobGuard`)
 - #153595 (`QueryLatch` cleanups)
 - #153653 (scalable vector: type renames and simple checks)
 - #152302 (fix: don't suggest replacing `env!("CARGO_BIN_NAME")` with itself)
 - #153283 (feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization)
 - #153479 (Add rationale for intentional potential_query_instability allows)
 - #153533 (Fix LegacyKeyValueFormat report from docker build: miscellaneous)
 - #153600 (add test for proc-macros with custom panic payloads)
 - #153643 (Avoid projection-only suggestions for inherent assoc types)
 - #153657 (triagebot: remove myself from some mention groups)
 - #153659 (Mark an unreachable match arm as such)
rust-bors bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
…uwer

Rollup of 13 pull requests

Successful merges:

 - #149130 (Implement coercions between `&pin (mut|const) T` and `&(mut) T` when `T: Unpin`)
 - #153143 (Allow `./x test` to run tests without doc tests and without benchmarks)
 - #153471 (Refactor `ActiveJobGuard`)
 - #153595 (`QueryLatch` cleanups)
 - #153653 (scalable vector: type renames and simple checks)
 - #152302 (fix: don't suggest replacing `env!("CARGO_BIN_NAME")` with itself)
 - #153283 (feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization)
 - #153479 (Add rationale for intentional potential_query_instability allows)
 - #153533 (Fix LegacyKeyValueFormat report from docker build: miscellaneous)
 - #153600 (add test for proc-macros with custom panic payloads)
 - #153643 (Avoid projection-only suggestions for inherent assoc types)
 - #153657 (triagebot: remove myself from some mention groups)
 - #153659 (Mark an unreachable match arm as such)
@rust-bors rust-bors bot merged commit cf951ba into rust-lang:main Mar 11, 2026
11 of 12 checks passed
@rustbot rustbot removed the S-waiting-on-author Status: This is awaiting some action (such as code changes or more information) from the author. label Mar 11, 2026
@rustbot rustbot added this to the 1.96.0 milestone Mar 11, 2026
rust-timer added a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 11, 2026
Rollup merge of #153283 - LukeMathWalker:add-rkyv-support, r=aDotInTheVoid

feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization

## Motivation

The JSON documents produced by `rustdoc-json` are _big_. More often than not, tools need to access a small fraction of that output—e.g. a couple of types from a transitive dependency, or a subset of the fields on a given `rustdoc-json-types` type.

Using a binary (de)serialization format and a cache helps to drive down the performance cost of deserialization: you invoke `rustdoc-json` to get the JSON output you need, re-serialize it using a more perfomant format as target (e.g. `bincode` or `postcard`) and thus amortize the cost of future queries that hit the persistent cache rather than `rustdoc-json`.
This is _better_, but still not great: the deserialization cost for crates like `std` still shows up prominently in flamegraphs.

## An Alternative Approach: rkyv

`rkyv` provides a different opportunity: you avoid paying the deserialization cost _upfront_ thanks to [zero-copy deserialization](https://rkyv.org/zero-copy-deserialization.html).
You're often able to determine if you need a certain entry from the JSON document using the archived version of that type, thus incurring the full deserialization cost only for the subset of items you actually need ([example](LukeMathWalker/pavex@d067e7e)).

## The Change

This PR adds support for `rkyv` behind a feature flag (`rkyv_0_8`).
For most types, it's a straight-forward `derive(rkyv::Archive, rkyv::Serialize, rkyv::Deserialize)` annotation. For co-recursive types, we need to adjust the generated bounds, using the techniques from [`rkyv`'s JSON example](https://github.com/rkyv/rkyv/blob/985b0230a0b9cb9fce4a4ee9facb6af148e27c8e/rkyv/examples/json_like_schema.rs).

I have added new round-trip tests to ensure `rkyv` works as expected.

r? @aDotInTheVoid
Delta17920 pushed a commit to Delta17920/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 11, 2026
…nathanBrouwer

Rollup of 13 pull requests

Successful merges:

 - rust-lang#149130 (Implement coercions between `&pin (mut|const) T` and `&(mut) T` when `T: Unpin`)
 - rust-lang#153143 (Allow `./x test` to run tests without doc tests and without benchmarks)
 - rust-lang#153471 (Refactor `ActiveJobGuard`)
 - rust-lang#153595 (`QueryLatch` cleanups)
 - rust-lang#153653 (scalable vector: type renames and simple checks)
 - rust-lang#152302 (fix: don't suggest replacing `env!("CARGO_BIN_NAME")` with itself)
 - rust-lang#153283 (feat(rustdoc-json): Add optional support for rkyv (de)serialization)
 - rust-lang#153479 (Add rationale for intentional potential_query_instability allows)
 - rust-lang#153533 (Fix LegacyKeyValueFormat report from docker build: miscellaneous)
 - rust-lang#153600 (add test for proc-macros with custom panic payloads)
 - rust-lang#153643 (Avoid projection-only suggestions for inherent assoc types)
 - rust-lang#153657 (triagebot: remove myself from some mention groups)
 - rust-lang#153659 (Mark an unreachable match arm as such)
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@rust-timer build 69b11eb

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Queued 69b11eb with parent 0c68443, future comparison URL.
There are currently 2 preceding artifacts in the queue.
It will probably take at least ~3.0 hours until the benchmark run finishes.

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