Feature Gates

This chapter is intended to provide basic help for adding, removing, and modifying feature gates.

Adding a feature gate

See “Stability in code” for help with adding a new feature; this section just covers how to add the feature gate declaration.

Add a feature gate declaration to rustc_feature/src/active.rs in the active declare_features block:

/// description of feature
(active, $feature_name, "$current_nightly_version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition)

where $edition has the type Option<Edition>, and is typically just None.

For example:

/// Allows defining identifiers beyond ASCII.
(active, non_ascii_idents, "1.0.0", Some(55467), None),

When added, the current version should be the one for the current nightly. Once the feature is moved to accepted.rs, the version is changed to that nightly version.

Removing a feature gate

To remove a feature gate, follow these steps:

Remove the feature gate declaration in rustc_feature/src/active.rs. It will look like this:

/// description of feature
(active, $feature_name, "$version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition)

Add a modified version of the feature gate declaration that you just removed to rustc_feature/src/removed.rs:

/// description of feature
(removed, $old_feature_name, "$version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition,
 Some("$why_it_was_removed"))

Renaming a feature gate

To rename a feature gate, follow these steps (the first two are the same steps to follow when removing a feature gate):

Remove the old feature gate declaration in rustc_feature/src/active.rs. It will look like this:

/// description of feature
(active, $old_feature_name, "$version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition)

Add a modified version of the old feature gate declaration that you just removed to rustc_feature/src/removed.rs:

/// description of feature
/// Renamed to `$new_feature_name`
(removed, $old_feature_name, "$version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition,
 Some("renamed to `$new_feature_name`"))

Add a feature gate declaration with the new name to rustc_feature/src/active.rs. It should look very similar to the old declaration:
```
/// description of feature
(active, $new_feature_name, "$version", Some($tracking_issue_number), $edition)
```

Stabilizing a feature

See “Updating the feature-gate listing” in the “Stabilizing Features” chapter for instructions. There are additional steps you will need to take beyond just updating the declaration!