`cfg_attr(docsrs)` feature hints do not propagate to in `kube` for re-exports

[clux]

Current and expected behavior

Currently we set up some very nice doc annotations for our optional features such as ws:

kube/kube-client/src/api/remote_command.rs

Line 100 in bd14267

#[cfg_attr(docsrs, doc(cfg(feature = "ws")))]

These show up perfectly on docs.rs/kube-client

Available on crate features client and ws only.

However, on the facade crate docs.rs/kube it's less good.

Available on crate feature client only.

This leads people to be confused because they are browsing docs.rs/kube and are being slightly lied to about feature choices as seen from continued confusion in comments from bugs like: #1159 (comment)

The problem arises because the ws feature flag is basically a kube-client and kube-core feature, and it's just propagated down into those crates. kube just re-exports everything it can find:

kube/kube-client/src/lib.rs

Lines 69 to 109 in bd14267

	macro_rules! cfg_client {
	($($item:item)*) => {
	$(
	#[cfg_attr(docsrs, doc(cfg(feature = "client")))]
	#[cfg(feature = "client")]
	$item
	)*
	}
	}
	macro_rules! cfg_config {
	($($item:item)*) => {
	$(
	#[cfg_attr(docsrs, doc(cfg(feature = "config")))]
	#[cfg(feature = "config")]
	$item
	)*
	}
	}
	macro_rules! cfg_error {
	($($item:item)*) => {
	$(
	#[cfg_attr(docsrs, doc(cfg(any(feature = "config", feature = "client"))))]
	#[cfg(any(feature = "config", feature = "client"))]
	$item
	)*
	}
	}
	cfg_client! {
	pub mod api;
	pub mod discovery;
	pub mod client;
	#[doc(inline)]
	pub use api::Api;
	#[doc(inline)]
	pub use client::Client;
	#[doc(inline)]
	pub use discovery::Discovery;
	}

Possible solution

Not sure exactly the best way forward here.

We could maybe try to explicitly namespace ws stuff better, but this is pretty insidious, and hard to retrofit without breaking a lot.

We could also perhaps consider importing the crates into a module workspace instead (merge the crates in one big crate). The need for having a multi-crate split is smaller these days with a locked versioning and re-exported features.

We could also just wait and hope docsrs gets better... It's not great that it doesn't detect this across crate boundaries, but it's also understandable, and probably hard. EDIT: yes. Open bug upstream rust-lang/rust#88743 . In a similar upstream bug, they do describe why it's hard: rust-lang/rust#83428 (comment)

Environment

docs.rs

[nightkr]

The need for having a multi-crate split is smaller these days with a locked versioning and re-exported features.

One big thing (for me) is that feature flags aren't typechecked/isolated (for lack of a better word). Each combination of feature flags needs to be compiled/tested separately to make sure that it doesn't bitrot, while crates are isolated from each other by nature.

[clux]

https://blog.rust-lang.org/2023/08/24/Rust-1.72.0.html#rust-reports-potentially-useful-cfg-disabled-items-in-errors might make the re-export doc failures a bit better, haven't tested it yet.

[clux]

It is indeed much better now on 1.72. A way to test is to take out the default ws feature on examples/Cargo.toml (which emulates a user environment) then running cargo run --example pod_exec which now gives:

error[E0432]: unresolved imports `kube::api::AttachParams`, `kube::api::AttachedProcess`
  --> examples/pod_exec.rs:7:14
   |
7  |         Api, AttachParams, AttachedProcess, DeleteParams, PostParams, ResourceExt, WatchEvent, WatchParams,
   |              ^^^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ no `AttachedProcess` in `api`
   |              |
   |              no `AttachParams` in `api`
   |              help: a similar name exists in the module: `PatchParams`
   |
note: found an item that was configured out
  --> /Users/clux/kube/kube/kube-client/src/api/mod.rs:14:31
   |
14 | pub use subresource::{Attach, AttachParams, Execute, Portforward};
   |                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^
   = note: the item is gated behind the `ws` feature
note: found an item that was configured out
  --> /Users/clux/kube/kube/kube-client/src/api/mod.rs:7:49
   |
7  | #[cfg(feature = "ws")] pub use remote_command::{AttachedProcess, TerminalSize};
   |                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   = note: the item is gated behind the `ws` feature