Install cargo-bundle with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• cargo-bundle

Project history

The cargo-bundle repository was created in January 2016 and the first crates.io release followed in March 2016. The README positions it as a tool for generating macOS app bundles, iOS bundles, Debian packages, and experimental Windows MSI installers from Cargo-built executables.

Its design centers on a `[package.metadata.bundle]` section in Cargo.toml. That metadata describes user-facing application attributes such as name, identifier, icon, version, resources, copyright, category, descriptions, Debian dependencies, macOS frameworks, and URL schemes.

Adoption history

cargo-bundle occupies a narrower niche than compiler or profiling Cargo plugins: desktop and GUI Rust applications. Crates.io reports more than 150,000 downloads, and the input records Homebrew and Nix packaging.

The project remained useful because early Rust desktop applications needed a Cargo-native way to bridge from a compiled binary to platform packaging conventions without adopting a full application framework.

How it is used

Users install it with `cargo install cargo-bundle`, add `[package.metadata.bundle]` to Cargo.toml, and run `cargo bundle` from the package directory. The command supports familiar Cargo selectors and build controls such as `--bin`, `--example`, `--release`, `--profile`, `--target`, and feature flags.

The README documents output formats including deb, ios, msi, wxsmsi, osx, rpm, and appimage, while also warning that the project status is early alpha and that the metadata format is not guaranteed stable.

Why package nerds care

cargo-bundle is historically interesting because it embeds desktop packaging metadata inside Cargo.toml rather than treating app bundling as an entirely external release step. It shows how Rust package metadata became a place for downstream packaging intent, not just dependency resolution.

For package maintainers, it connects Rust crates to platform-native artifacts such as `.app`, `.deb`, and `.msi`, making it a small but useful example of Cargo crossing from language package manager into OS package production.

Timeline

• 2016-01-10: GitHub repository burtonageo/cargo-bundle was created.
• 2016-03-22: cargo-bundle 0.0.0 was published on crates.io.
• 2016 onward: README documented `[package.metadata.bundle]` as the Cargo.toml integration point for bundle metadata.
• 2026-05-30: Version 0.11.0 was published.

Related projects

• Cargo provides the build and subcommand interface cargo-bundle extends.
• Platform packaging formats documented by the project include macOS app bundles, Debian packages, Windows MSI installers, RPM packages, and AppImage.
• The Rust desktop packaging space overlaps conceptually with later application-packaging frameworks, but cargo-bundle remains a small Cargo-native bundling tool.

Sources

• GitHub repository API metadata: https://api.github.com/repos/burtonageo/cargo-bundle
• Official README: https://github.com/burtonageo/cargo-bundle#readme
• Package-manager adoption from source_facts.package-manager.
• crates.io API metadata and versions: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/cargo-bundle