rustc-driver-frontend

To consume dependency metadata from Rust crates without decoding rlibs manually, you can build an alternate Rust compiler frontend using the rustc_driver custom-driver pattern. This approach hooks rustc_interface callbacks to directly access types, traits, impls, and MIR from dependencies.

The rustc_driver custom-driver pattern works by hooking rustc_interface callbacks to intercept and consume dependency metadata from Rust crates. This allows developers to construct an alternate Rust compiler frontend that directly accesses rustc's internal view of dependencies.

Yes, you can use this custom driver approach to build a Rust type checker, verifier, or analysis tool. It is specifically designed for development tasks that require rustc's view of dependencies, allowing you to extract necessary metadata like types and MIR from Rust crates.

The best way to extract types, traits, impls, and MIR from Rust crates for an analysis tool is to construct an alternate Rust compiler frontend. By consuming dependency metadata through the rustc_driver custom-driver pattern, you avoid manual rlibs decoding and get rustc's native view of the dependencies.

No, you do not need to decode rlibs manually to get rustc's view of dependencies for your custom Rust tool. By building an alternate Rust compiler frontend with the rustc_driver custom-driver pattern, you can consume the required dependency metadata directly from Rust crates.