Why do I get this error only on Windows?

help
1 
Compiling rust\commander ...
error[E0658]: use of unstable library feature `os_str_display`
   --> rust\commander.rs:273:51
    |
273 |              simweb::json_encode(&cur.file_name().display().to_string()),
    |                                                   ^^^^^^^
    |
    = note: see issue #120048 <https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/120048> for more information

I do not get this error on Mac, Linux, and Raspberry Pi Debian. Is it something Windows specific?
Compiler version on Windows is

rustc 1.84.0 (9fc6b4312 2025-01-07)

The compiler on Linux is

rustc 1.89.0-nightly (586ad391f 2025-06-15)

2

The error might be to be due to the older Rust version you're using on Windows.

https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/ffi/os_str/struct.Display.html

Since 1.87.0

FTR: https://blog.rust-lang.org/2025/05/15/Rust-1.87.0/#stabilized-apis

3

Thank you. Windows just got a new big update and I hoped the Rust is there. Hopefully, Rust will slow down delivering new features, because it makes a development extremely tricky.

1 Like
4

This is kind of weird to say while also using the nightly compiler. If you want more stability, then use the stable compiler. You're opting in to bleeding edge features and then complaining at sharp edges. Granted, the features we're talking about were stabilized about a month ago, so you could have run into the same issue using the stable compiler.

In any case, I personally have never run into code that fails to compile when upgrading compiler versions on stable rust. Upgrading libraries or editions has required migration work, sure.

But the reverse is not true. Code that compiles with more recent versions isn't guaranteed to work with older compilers.

3 Likes
5

It is funny, but my intention to use a bleeding edge Rust was completely opposite. I just want to reduce frequency of Rust updates, every update leads you to rebuild all crates, sometime I already forgot how I did it. So I rebuilt Rust compiler, because my old one was version 1.81 couldn't do many things,, and yes, it was night build too.