3.1 Installing the Rust Toolchain with rustup
The recommended method for installing Rust on Windows, macOS, and Linux is by using rustup. This command-line tool manages Rust installations and versions, ensuring you have the complete toolchain, which includes the Rust compiler (rustc), the build system and package manager (cargo), the standard library documentation (rustdoc), and other essential utilities. Using rustup makes it easy to keep your installation current, switch between stable, beta, and nightly compiler versions, and manage components for cross-compilation.
To install Rust via rustup, open your terminal (or Command Prompt on Windows) and follow the instructions provided on the official Rust website linked above. For Linux and macOS, the typical command is:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
The script will guide you through the installation options. Once completed, rustup, rustc, and cargo will be available in your shell after restarting it or sourcing the relevant profile file (e.g., source $HOME/.cargo/env).