Cargo WinPathRedirect

cargo-winpath-redirect is a utility for Windows Rust developers facing issues with long file paths during the build process, particularly common with ESP-IDF projects or deeply nested project structures.

It transparently wraps your cargo commands, temporarily copying your project to a very short path (e.g., C:\b\<project_name>), executing the command there, and then (optionally) copying build artifacts back. This helps bypass the legacy MAX_PATH (260 character) limitations still present in some parts of Windows toolchains.

The Problem

Windows has a historical path length limit that can cause build failures in Rust projects with deep directory structures or long file names, especially when combined with toolchains like ESP-IDF that generate many intermediate files. Errors like "The system cannot find the path specified. (os error 3)" or "failed to list cmake-file-api reply directory" are common symptoms.

The Solution

cargo-winpath-redirect acts as a "subcommand" for Cargo. You invoke it like cargo winpath-redirect <your_usual_cargo_command_and_args>. It will:

1. Identify your current project.
2. Copy the project (excluding target/ and .git/) to a configurable short base path (default: C:\b\).
3. Change to the short path directory.
4. Run cargo clean (recommended for a clean slate).
5. Execute your specified cargo command (e.g., build, run, test) with all its arguments.
6. Stream all output (stdout/stderr) back to your console and allow stdin interaction.
7. If the command produces build artifacts (e.g., build, run), copy the target directory from the short path back to your original project's target directory.
8. Clean up the temporary short path directory (unless configured otherwise).

Installation

1. Ensure you have Rust and Cargo installed.
2. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/cargo-winpath-redirect.git
   cd cargo-winpath-redirect
   

3. Install the tool:

   cargo install --path .
   

   This will build cargo-winpath-redirect.exe and place it in your ~/.cargo/bin directory, which should be in your system PATH.

Usage

Once installed, navigate to your Rust project directory that experiences path length issues. Then, simply prefix your usual cargo commands with winpath-redirect:

Instead of:

cargo build --release --target riscv32imc-esp-espidf
cargo run -- --my-app-arg
cargo test
cargo clean

Use:

cargo winpath-redirect build --release --target riscv32imc-esp-espidf

or 

cargo winpath-redirect run -- --my-app-arg

or 

cargo winpath-redirect test

or 

cargo winpath-redirect clean

Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request on the GitHub repository.