Semantic analysis

Cargo Bylaw uses cargo metadata for workspace, target, and declared dependency information and embedded rust-analyzer libraries for source semantics. It runs on stable Rust and does not use rustc_private, nightly flags, or rustdoc JSON.

The importer resolves aliases, re-exports, qualified paths, active cfg branches, declarative macros, workspace dependencies, renamed dependencies, and external/toolchain crates where rust-analyzer provides a semantic target.

Configuration-dependent graphs

Features, target triples, target kinds, build-script output, and proc-macro availability change the imported graph. Architecture checks should use the same configuration as the build they protect.

Build-script analysis can execute project build scripts and write normal Cargo artifacts. Proc-macro analysis can execute project procedural macros through rust-analyzer’s proc-macro server. Disable either behavior in bylaw.toml when that is inappropriate for the environment.

Incomplete analysis

Enforcement fails closed by default. Any unresolved semantic path, unavailable macro expansion, or requested target that cannot be loaded is emitted as an error diagnostic. Use --allow-incomplete or incomplete = "allow" only when warnings and possible false negatives are acceptable; every omission remains in human and JSON reports.

The project pins its ra_ap_* dependencies exactly because rust-analyzer’s library APIs are not semver-stable. Upgrades must run the semantic fixture suite before changing the pin.