rust-lang / rust-lang/rust

Consider using "lib" prefix for Cygwin cdylib?

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#148,913 11 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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A-linkage C-discussion O-cygwin O-windows-gnu T-compiler
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Currently, despite considered a Unix, Cygwin inherits Windows' lack of lib prefix for cdylibs:

$ echo | rustc --crate-type cdylib - # using rustc for simplicity, but cargo projects behave the same
$ ls
librust_out.dll.a rust_out.dll

Whereas all other Unix targets produce lib + name + .so / .dylib. This makes porting applications more hassle than it needs to be IMO.

I think Windows GNU targets should also behave the same, but I imagine that is going to be a lot more breakage, potentially more than it's worth, so I'll limit the request to Cygwin, but opinions welcome.

FWIW, CMake also produces libraries with the lib prefix.

Meta
$ rustc --version --verbose
rustc 1.91.0 (f8297e351 2025-10-28) (Rev4, Built by MSYS2 project)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: f8297e351a40c1439a467bbbb6879088047f50b3
commit-date: 2025-10-28
host: x86_64-pc-cygwin
release: 1.91.0
LLVM version: 21.1.1

(backtrace N/A)

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Research direction

Reproduce the behavior with the rustc --crate-type cdylib - command on the Cygwin target and compare its generated names with other Unix targets. Locate the target-specific artifact naming logic and relevant tests; done means the Cygwin cdylib and import library use the requested lib prefix without unintentionally changing other targets.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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