Mike Hommey
c53dfb48f9
We had a "freeze" policy for toolchains somehow only documented in the Rust update policy. It used to be tied to the Soft-freezes, which were discontinued in February, but extended through the use of the string freeze dates. The general rule was that toolchains ought to be frozen 7 days before the soft-freeze, which itself was 4-5 days before the merge day. That worked out fine when release cycles were 4 weeks, because it left a window of more than 2 weeks to update toolchains. But with 2-week release cycles, the same rule would leave us with only a 2-3 day window, which is too short. So we take a middle ground, whereby we make the new toolchain freeze last 7 days until merge day, leaving us with a 7-day window to update toolchains within the 2-week release cycle framework. While here, remove the historic version data for rust releases, keeping the relevant versions for the latest release and still maintained ESRs, and update with the new release schedule. Differential Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D314661
4.2 KiB
Rust Update Policy
We document here the decision making and planning around when we update the Rust toolchains used and required to build Firefox.
This allows contributors to know when new features will be usable, and downstream packagers to know what toolchain will be required for each Firefox release. Both benefit from the predictability of a schedule.
Policy
Official builds
We ship official stable Firefox with a stable Rust.
As a general rule, we update the Rust version used to build Firefox Nightly soon after its release, unless we're in a toolchain freeze period, which starts 7 days before a merge day. In that case, we wait for the next Nightly train.
We don't upgrade the Rust version in the beta or release branches of Firefox.
The following exceptions apply:
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We may use a Rust version from the Rust beta or nightly channels for new platforms (e.g. we did so for Android, arm64 Windows and arm64 macOS), and later upgrade when that Rust version becomes stable (we may even do so on the Firefox beta branch).
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We may skip the update (or backout the update) if major problems are encountered (typically, we've had to do so because of build problems, crash reporting bustage, or performance issues).
Developer builds
Local developer builds use whatever Rust toolchain is available on the system.
Someone building Firefox can maintain the latest stable Rust with the rustup
or mach bootstrap tools, or try other variations.
Minimum Supported Rust Version
We will update the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) when required.
The MSRV will generally remain unchanged, until a newer version is required by some code.
When that happens, we'll prefer to update the MSRV to the strict minimum required at that moment (e.g. if we require version 1.47.0, the currently used Rust version is 1.51.0, and a crate needs 1.50.0, we'll prefer to update the MSRV to 1.50.0 rather than 1.51.0).
The MSRV won't be updated to a version of Rust that hasn't been used for Firefox Nightly for at least 14 days.
We expect ESR releases will keep their MSRV, so backporting security fixes may require Rust compatibility work.
Rationale
Historically, the Rust ecosystem quickly required new features provided by new Rust compilers, which made it necessary to update the minimum supported version quite often, and as such, a scheduled update was deemed a better trade-off.
Fast-forward several years, and new Rust compiler releases more rarely sport ground-breaking new features, which has reduced the necessity to update quite significantly.
On the flip side, in some instances, we have had to stick to specific versions of the Rust compiler for extended periods of time because of e.g. regressions, going against the schedule.
Schedule
Here are the Rust versions for each Firefox version.
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The "Uses" column indicates the version of Rust used to build releases shipped to users.
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The "MSRV" column indicates the minimum supported Rust version to build the sources.
| Firefox Version | Uses | MSRV | Rust "Uses" release date | Toolchain Freeze | Firefox release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox 115 | Rust 1.69.0 | 1.66.0 | 2023 April 20 | 2023 July 4 | |
| Firefox 140 | Rust 1.86.0 | 1.82.0 | 2025 April 3 | 2025 June 24 | |
| Firefox 153 | Rust 1.94.0 | 1.90.0 | 2026 March 5 | 2026 July 21 | |
| Firefox 154 | Rust 1.94.0 | 1.90.0 | 2026 March 5 | 2026 August 18 | |
| Estimated | |||||
| Firefox 155 | Rust 1.95.0 | ? | 2026 April 16 | 2026 August 6 | 2026 September 1 |
| Firefox 156 | Rust 1.97.0 | ? | 2026 July 9 | 2026 August 20 | 2026 September 15 |
| Firefox 157 | Rust 1.98.0 | ? | 2026 August 20 | 2026 September 3 | 2026 September 29 |
| Firefox 158 | Rust 1.98.0 | ? | 2026 August 20 | 2026 September 17 | 2026 October 13 |
| Firefox 159 | Rust 1.98.0 | ? | 2026 August 20 | 2026 October 1 | 2026 October 27 |
| Firefox 160 | Rust 1.99.0 | ? | 2026 October 1 | 2026 October 15 | 2026 November 10 |
| Firefox 161 | Rust 1.99.0 | ? | 2026 October 1 | 2026 October 29 | 2026 November 24 |
| Firefox 162 | Rust 1.99.0 | ? | 2026 October 1 | 2026 November 12 | 2026 December 8 |