Package manager

rust-analyzer had been working fine until a few days ago, but suddenly stopped working, so I checked where it was installed. I remember struggling with a rust-analyzer issue before too, and I expect something similar may happen again, so I wrote down the commands I used today.

First, check where rust-analyzer is installed.

which package_name
which rust-analyzer

The install location shows up as ~/.cargo/bin/rust-analyzer.

cargo

List installed programs

cargo install --list

I checked installed programs with cargo install --list, but rust-analyzer was not there.

Then check the directory where cargo-installed programs are placed.

Program install location

ls ~/.cargo/bin/

In .cargo/bin, rust-analyzer really exists, but the filename has @ at the end. That means it is a symbolic link. In simple terms, it is like a shortcut on Windows.

Find the real location behind a symbolic link

readlink -f path
readlink ~/.cargo/bin/rust-analyzer

This shows that the real location of rust-analyzer is managed by rustup.

rustup

If you check the default location of rustup with which rustup, it also shows ~/.cargo/bin. I am not sure why, but that is not the real location; it is just where symbolic links are gathered.

For reference, rustup metadata and toolchains live under ~/.rustup.

Maybe I previously installed rust-analyzer with rustup, removed it, then installed it again with Homebrew, leaving a link behind in .cargo/bin.

So I decided to install rust-analyzer with rustup again and remove the Homebrew-installed one.

Install a program

rustup component add package_name
rustup component add rust-analyzer

Where are packages installed through component add?

They are in ~/.rustup/toolchains/<toolchain>/bin. In my case, it was under:

~/.rustup/toolchains/stable-aarch64-apple-darwin/lib

Homebrew

First, check whether Homebrew has rust-analyzer.

brew list

rust-analyzer is in the list. But I still do not know why which rust-analyzer showed .cargo, or why rust-analyzer had been working fine until now. Maybe it was related to a recent brew upgrade.

Anyway, the actual binary for programs installed with brew install should be in one of the following directories.

ls /opt/homebrew/bin
ls /opt/homebrew/opt
ls /opt/homebrew/Cellar

Now remove the rust-analyzer installed through Homebrew.

brew uninstall package_name
brew uninstall rust-analyzer

After opening a Rust file in Helix, it finally worked correctly again.