rust-lang/cargo · error · anyhow::Error

{} target names cannot be empty

Error message

{} target names cannot be empty

What it means

Error "{} target names cannot be empty" thrown in rust-lang/cargo.

Source

Thrown at src/workspace/parser/targets.rs:1180

        anyhow::bail!(
            "the binary target name `{name}` is forbidden, \
                 it conflicts with cargo's build directory names",
        )
    }

    Ok(())
}

fn validate_target_name(
    target: &TomlTarget,
    target_kind_human: &str,
    target_kind: &str,
    warnings: &mut Vec<String>,
) -> CargoResult<()> {
    match target.name {
        Some(ref name) => {
            if name.trim().is_empty() {
                anyhow::bail!("{} target names cannot be empty", target_kind_human)
            }
            if cfg!(windows) && restricted_names::is_windows_reserved(name) {
                warnings.push(format!(
                    "{} target `{}` is a reserved Windows filename, \
                        this target will not work on Windows platforms",
                    target_kind_human, name
                ));
            }
        }
        None => anyhow::bail!(
            "{} target {}.name is required",
            target_kind_human,
            target_kind
        ),
    }

    Ok(())
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0e07a15537)

Solutions

1. Provide a non-empty `name` for the target in Cargo.toml.
2. Remove the empty target definition if it is not needed.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at src/workspace/parser/targets.rs:1180 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: Occurs when a target of the given kind has an empty `name` string in the manifest. Provide a non-empty target name.

AI-assisted analysis of rust-lang/cargo@0e07a15537 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/d92802afa51a5484.json. Report an issue: GitHub.