Cargo scripts cannot be used in aliases

[musjj]

Problem

Cargo script paths cannot be used in aliases.

Steps

.cargo/config.toml

[unstable]
script = true

[alias]
foo = "foo.rs"

foo.rs

#!/usr/bin/env cargo

fn main() {}

Then run the alias:

$ cargo foo
error: expected table for configuration key `alias.foo`, but found string in /tmp/tmp.JYGBGctKpJ/.cargo/config.toml

Possible Solution(s)

Script paths should be usable in aliases.

Notes

No response

Version

cargo 1.96.0-nightly (f298b8c82 2026-02-24)
release: 1.96.0-nightly
commit-hash: f298b8c82da0cba538516b45b04a480fc501d4c0
commit-date: 2026-02-24
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
libgit2: 1.9.2 (sys:0.20.4 vendored)
libcurl: 8.15.0-DEV (sys:0.4.83+curl-8.15.0 vendored ssl:OpenSSL/3.5.4)
ssl: OpenSSL 3.5.4 30 Sep 2025
os: NixOS 26.5.0 [64-bit]

[epage]

We don't resolve scripts when processing aliases and apparently an alias of foo.rs is treated as a TOML dotted key, expecting

[alias]
foo.rs = "..."

Since foo is not a parent table with a rs key, we get that error.

[musjj]

Oh, that's interesting. So this works:

[unstable]
script = true

[alias]
foo = "./foo.rs"

Though it would be nice to refer to the absolute path of the root project in aliases, I guess that's for another issue.