Merge pull request #4 from rust-lang-nursery/upgrade-docs

Document how to transition between editions

Author: steveklabnik

src/editions/transitioning.md

@@ -1,11 +1,103 @@
 # Transitioning your code to a new edition
 
-In general, to update your code to a new edition, the process
-will look like this:
+Transitioning between editions is built around lints. Fundamentally, the
+process works like this:
 
-* Make sure your build is warning-free.
-* Update or add the `edition` key in `Cargo.toml`
-* Fix any warnings, possibly by running `rustfix`.
+* Get your code compiling with no warnings.
+* Opt in to the new edition.
+* Fix any new warnings that may result.
 
-At this time, the `edition` key does not yet work, and `rustfix` is in a
-larval state. This section will update as our story gets better here.
+Luckily, we've been working on a tool to help assist with this process,
+`rustfix`. It can take suggestions from the compiler and automatically
+re-write your code to comply with new features and idioms.
+
+> `rustfix` is still quite young, and very much a work in development. But it works
+> for the basics! We're working hard on making it better and more robust, but
+> please bear with us for now.
+
+## Installing rustfix
+
+You can get `rustfix` from GitHub, and eventually, `crates.io`. Given that you're probably using Cargo,
+you'll want to run this:
+
+```shell
+$ cargo install cargo-fix --git https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/rustfix
+```
+
+And that's it!
+
+## Prepare for the next edition
+
+Before we talk about how to move to the new edition, a reminder:
+
+
+* New editions might change the way you write Rust -- they add syntax,
+  language, and library features but also remove others. For example,
+  `async`/`await` is available in Rust 2018, but not Rust 2015.
+* It's our intention that the migration to new editions is as smooth an experience
+  as possible. It's considered a bug if it's difficult to upgrade your crate to
+  a new edition. If you have a difficult time then a bug should be filed
+  with either rustfix or Rust itself.
+
+With that out of the way, let's get into it!
+
+### The preview period
+
+First, editions have a "preview" phase. This lets you try out the new edition
+in nightly Rust. During the preview, there's an extra step you need to take
+to opt in. At the time of writing, Rust 2018 is in its preview phase.
+
+To do that, add this feature flag to your `lib.rs` or `main.rs`:
+
+```rust
+#![feature(rust_2018_preview)]
+```
+
+This will ensure that you're enabling all of the relevant features. Note that
+during the time the preview is available, we may continue to add/enable new
+features with this flag!
+
+### Running rustfix
+
+There are some lints that can help you prepare for the next edition, but
+they're not currently turned on by default. `rustfix` has your back though!
+To turn them on and have `rustfix` fix up your code, run this:
+
+```shell
+$ cargo +nightly fix --prepare-for 2018
+```
+
+This would turn on those lints, and fix up the project for the 2018 edition.
+If there's something that `rustfix` doesn't know how to fix automatically yet,
+the usual compiler warning will be printed; you'll need to fix those
+manually. Do so until you get a run with no warnings.
+
+## Commit to the next edition
+
+Once you're happy with those changes, it's time to use the new edition.
+Add this to your `Cargo.toml`:
+
+```toml
+cargo-features = ["edition"]
+
+[package]
+edition = '2018'
+```
+
+That `cargo-features` line should go at the very top; and `edition` goes into
+the `[package]` section. As mentioned above, right now this is a nightly-only
+feature of Cargo, so you need to enable it for things to work.
+
+At this point, your project should compile with a regular old `cargo +nightly
+build`. However, since you've said you're using the new edition, you may get
+more warnings! Time to bust out `rustfix` again.
+
+## Fix new warnings
+
+To fix up these warnings, we can use `rustfix`:
+
+```shell
+$ cargo +nightly fix
+```
+
+This will try to fix up all of the new warnings. Congrats! You're done!