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Requirements

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Rust Version

rustic_core requires Rust 1.88.0 or newer.
The minimum supported Rust version (MSRV) may increase in minor version updates. For example, rustic_core 0.10.x requires Rust 1.88.0, but rustic_core 0.11.0 may require a newer version.
Check your Rust version: 
rustc --version
Update Rust if needed: 
rustup update stable

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Adding to Your Project

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Basic Installation

Add rustic_core to your Cargo.toml: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = "0"
This installs the latest 0.x version with default features (no optional features enabled).

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With Specific Version

For more control over version updates: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = "0.10"

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Backend Support

rustic_core requires a backend implementation for storage. Add rustic_backend as well: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = "0"
rustic_backend = "0"
The backend crate provides support for:
  • Local filesystem storage
  • REST servers
  • Various cloud storage providers

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Feature Flags

rustic_core provides optional features to reduce dependencies for your use case.

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Available Features

Enables CLI-related functionality by enabling both merge and clap features.Use when: Building command-line applications
[dependencies]
rustic_core = { version = "0", features = ["cli"] }
This enables:
  • Command-line argument parsing with clap
  • Configuration merging with conflate
Enables support for merging multiple configuration sources.Use when: You need to combine configuration from files, environment variables, and command-line arguments
[dependencies]
rustic_core = { version = "0", features = ["merge"] }
Adds dependency: conflate for configuration merging
Enables command-line argument parsing.Use when: Building CLI tools but not needing full cli feature
[dependencies]
rustic_core = { version = "0", features = ["clap"] }
Adds dependency: clap with derive, env, and wrap_help features

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Default Features

By default, no optional features are enabled. This keeps the dependency tree minimal for library use. 
# These are equivalent:
rustic_core = "0"
rustic_core = { version = "0", default-features = false }

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Multiple Features

Enable multiple features as needed: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = { version = "0", features = ["clap", "merge"] }
For CLI applications, use the cli feature which includes everything you need. For libraries or custom integrations, start with no features and add only what you need.

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Core Dependencies

When you add rustic_core, you’ll get these key dependencies:

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Cryptography

  • aes256ctr_poly1305aes - AES-256-CTR encryption with Poly1305 authentication
  • scrypt - Key derivation from passwords
  • sha2 - SHA-256 hashing (with assembly optimizations on supported platforms)

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Serialization

  • serde - Serialization framework
  • serde_json - JSON support for repository metadata
  • binrw - Binary serialization for pack files

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Parallelization

  • rayon - Data parallelism
  • crossbeam-channel - Multi-producer multi-consumer channels
  • pariter - Parallel iteration utilities

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Compression & Deduplication

  • zstd - Zstandard compression
  • rustic_cdc - Content-defined chunking for deduplication

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File System Operations

  • walkdir - Directory traversal
  • ignore - Gitignore-style pattern matching
  • xattr - Extended file attributes (Unix/Linux)
The full dependency list is available in the Cargo.toml on GitHub.

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Platform Support

rustic_core supports:
  • Linux - Full support including extended attributes and ACLs
  • macOS - Full support with xattr
  • Windows - Full support (SHA2 assembly optimizations disabled due to upstream issues)
  • OpenBSD - Supported (without xattr)
On Windows, SHA-256 assembly optimizations are disabled due to compatibility issues. This may result in slightly slower hashing performance.

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Verification

Verify your installation by building a simple example: 
use rustic_core::{Repository, RepositoryOptions};
use rustic_backend::BackendOptions;

fn main() {
    println!("rustic_core is installed!");
}
Build and run: 
cargo build
cargo run
If you see “rustic_core is installed!”, you’re ready to go!

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Additional Tools

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For Logging

Many examples use simplelog for output: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = "0"
rustic_backend = "0"
simplelog = "0.12"

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For Error Handling

Consider using anyhow for easier error handling: 
[dependencies]
rustic_core = "0"
rustic_backend = "0"
anyhow = "1"

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Next Steps

Quick Start Guide

Learn how to initialize a repository and create your first backup

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