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+
+ Hacking on Rust in Tor
+========================
+
+ Getting Started
+-----------------
+
+Please read or review our documentation on Rust coding standards
+(`.../doc/HACKING/CodingStandardsRust.md`) before doing anything.
+
+Please also read
+[the Rust Code of Conduct](https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/conduct.html). We aim
+to follow the good example set by the Rust community and be excellent to one
+another. Let's be careful with each other, so we can be memory-safe together!
+
+Next, please contact us before rewriting anything! Rust in Tor is still an
+experiment. It is an experiment that we very much want to see succeed, so we're
+going slowly and carefully. For the moment, it's also a completely
+volunteer-driven effort: while many, if not most, of us are paid to work on Tor,
+we are not yet funded to write Rust code for Tor. Please be patient with the
+other people who are working on getting more Rust code into Tor, because they
+are graciously donating their free time to contribute to this effort.
+
+ Resources for learning Rust
+-----------------------------
+
+**Beginning resources**
+
+The primary resource for learning Rust is
+[The Book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/). If you'd like to start writing
+Rust immediately, without waiting for anything to install, there is
+[an interactive browser-based playground](https://play.rust-lang.org/).
+
+**Advanced resources**
+
+If you're interested in playing with various Rust compilers and viewing a very
+nicely displayed output of the generated assembly, there is
+[the Godbolt compiler explorer](https://rust.godbolt.org/)
+
+For learning how to write unsafe Rust, read
+[The Rustonomicon](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nomicon/).
+
+For learning everything you ever wanted to know about Rust macros, there is
+[The Little Book of Rust Macros](https://danielkeep.github.io/tlborm/book/index.html).
+
+For learning more about FFI and Rust, see Jake Goulding's
+[Rust FFI Omnibus](http://jakegoulding.com/rust-ffi-omnibus/).
+
+ Compiling Tor with Rust enabled
+---------------------------------
+
+You will need to run the `configure` script with the `--enable-rust` flag to
+explicitly build with Rust. Additionally, you will need to specify where to
+fetch Rust dependencies, as we allow for either fetching dependencies from Cargo
+or specifying a local directory.
+
+**Fetch dependencies from Cargo**
+
+ ./configure --enable-rust --enable-cargo-online-mode
+
+**Using a local dependency cache**
+
+**NOTE**: local dependency caches which were not *originally* created via
+ `--enable-cargo-online-mode` are broken. See https://bugs.torproject.org/22907
+
+To specify a local directory:
+
+ RUST_DEPENDENCIES='path_to_dependencies_directory' ./configure --enable-rust
+
+(Note that RUST_DEPENDENCIES must be the full path to the directory; it cannot
+be relative.)
+
+You'll need the following Rust dependencies (as of this writing):
+
+ libc==0.2.22
+
+To get them, do:
+
+ mkdir path_to_dependencies_directory
+ cd path_to_dependencies_directory
+ git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/libc
+ cd libc
+ git checkout 0.2.22
+ cargo package
+ cd ..
+ ln -s libc/target/package/libc-0.2.22 libc-0.2.22
+
+
+ Identifying which modules to rewrite
+======================================
+
+The places in the Tor codebase that are good candidates for porting to Rust are:
+
+1. loosely coupled to other Tor submodules,
+2. have high test coverage, and
+3. would benefit from being implemented in a memory safe language.
+
+Help in either identifying places such as this, or working to improve existing
+areas of the C codebase by adding regression tests and simplifying dependencies,
+would be really helpful.
+
+Furthermore, as submodules in C are implemented in Rust, this is a good
+opportunity to refactor, add more tests, and split modules into smaller areas of
+responsibility.
+
+A good first step is to build a module-level callgraph to understand how
+interconnected your target module is.
+
+ git clone https://git.torproject.org/user/nickm/calltool.git
+ cd tor
+ CFLAGS=0 ./configure
+ ../calltool/src/main.py module_callgraph
+
+The output will tell you each module name, along with a set of every module that
+the module calls. Modules which call fewer other modules are better targets.
+
+ Writing your Rust module
+==========================
+
+Strive to change the C API as little as possible.
+
+We are currently targetting Rust nightly, *for now*. We expect this to change
+moving forward, as we understand more about which nightly features we need. It
+is on our TODO list to try to cultivate good standing with various distro
+maintainers of `rustc` and `cargo`, in order to ensure that whatever version we
+solidify on is readily available.
+
+ Adding your Rust module to Tor's build system
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+0. Your translation of the C module should live in its own crate(s)
+ in the `.../tor/src/rust/` directory.
+1. Add your crate to `.../tor/src/rust/Cargo.toml`, in the
+ `[workspace.members]` section.
+2. Append your crate's static library to the `rust_ldadd` definition
+ (underneath `if USE_RUST`) in `.../tor/Makefile.am`.
+
+ How to test your Rust code
+----------------------------
+
+Everything should be tested full stop. Even non-public functionality.
+
+Be sure to edit `.../tor/src/test/test_rust.sh` to add the name of your crate to
+the `crates` variable! This will ensure that `cargo test` is run on your crate.
+
+Configure Tor's build system to build with Rust enabled:
+
+ ./configure --enable-fatal-warnings --enable-rust --enable-cargo-online-mode
+
+Tor's test should be run by doing:
+
+ make check
+
+Tor's integration tests should also pass:
+
+ make test-stem
+
+ Submitting a patch
+=====================
+
+Please follow the instructions in `.../doc/HACKING/GettingStarted.md`.