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Write the "passes" chapter of the rustdoc book #43790

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85 changes: 84 additions & 1 deletion src/doc/rustdoc/src/passes.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,3 +1,86 @@
# Passes

Coming soon!
Rustdoc has a concept called "passes". These are transformations that
`rustdoc` runs on your documentation before producing its final output.

In addition to the passes below, check out the docs for these flags:

* [`--passes`](command-line-arguments.html#--passes-add-more-rustdoc-passes)
* [`--no-defaults`](command-line-arguments.html#--no-defaults-dont-run-default-passes)

## Default passes

By default, rustdoc will run some passes, namely:

* `strip-hidden`
* `strip-private`
* `collapse-docs`
* `unindent-comments`

However, `strip-private` implies `strip-private-imports`, and so effectively,
all passes are run by default.

## `strip-hidden`

This pass implements the `#[doc(hidden)]` attribute. When this pass runs, it
checks each item, and if it is annotated with this attribute, it removes it
from `rustdoc`'s output.

Without this pass, these items will remain in the output.

## `unindent-comments`

When you write a doc comment like this:

```rust,ignore
/// This is a documentation comment.
```

There's a space between the `///` and that `T`. That spacing isn't intended
to be a part of the output; it's there for humans, to help separate the doc
comment syntax from the text of the comment. This pass is what removes that
space.

The exact rules are left under-specified so that we can fix issues that we find.
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This line confuses me. Is this pass anything more complex than removing a single space if it exists? Are we not able to fix issues if we specify the rules?

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Ah, just saw this was approved. Don't block this PR on my comment here, but feel free to answer if there's an answer

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The current semantics are a bit awkward to specify completely, see the thread at #43790 (comment) for a brief summary. I think the thought for stating this was that if we describe everything it does then it would create a situation where either we get penned in by the current implementation, or the docs inevitably get out of sync when we patch around various issues.


Without this pass, the exact number of spaces is preserved.

## `collapse-docs`

With this pass, multiple `#[doc]` attributes are converted into one single
documentation string.

For example:

```rust,ignore
#[doc = "This is the first line."]
#[doc = "This is the second line."]
```

Gets collapsed into a single doc string of

```text
This is the first line.
This is the second line.
```

## `strip-private`

This removes documentation for any non-public items, so for example:

```rust,ignore
/// These are private docs.
struct Private;

/// These are public docs.
pub struct Public;
```

This pass removes the docs for `Private`, since they're not public.

This pass implies `strip-priv-imports`.

## `strip-priv-imports`

This is the same as `strip-private`, but for `extern crate` and `use`
statements instead of items.