rand 0.9.0-beta.0

on Rust Cargo

This is a pre-release. To depend on this version, use rand = "=0.9.0-beta.0" to prevent automatic updates (which can be expected to include breaking changes).

Security and unsafe

• Policy: "rand is not a crypto library" (#1514)
• Remove fork-protection from ReseedingRng and ThreadRng. Instead, it is recommended to call ThreadRng::reseed on fork. (#1379)
• Use zerocopy to replace some unsafe code (#1349, #1393, #1446, #1502)

Compilation options

• Bump the MSRV to 1.63.0 (#1207, #1246, #1269, #1341, #1416, #1536); note that 1.60.0 may work for dependents when using --ignore-rust-version
• Support std feature without getrandom or rand_chacha (#1354)
• Improve thread_rng related docs (#1257)
• The serde1 feature has been renamed serde (#1477)
• The implicit feature rand_chacha has been removed. This is enabled by std_rng. (#1473)
• Enable feature small_rng by default (#1455)
• Rename feature getrandom to os_rng (#1537)

Inherited changes from rand_core

• Add fn RngCore::read_adapter implementing std::io::Read (#1267)
• Add trait CryptoBlockRng: BlockRngCore; make trait CryptoRng: RngCore (#1273)
• Add traits TryRngCore, TryCryptoRng (#1424, #1499)
• Add bounds Clone and AsRef to associated type SeedableRng::Seed (#1491)

Rng trait and top-level fns

• Rename fn rand::thread_rng() to rand::rng(), and remove from the prelude (#1506)
• Add top-level fns random_iter, random_range, random_bool, random_ratio, fill (#1488)
• Remove fn rand::random() from the prelude (#1506)
• Re-introduce fn Rng::gen_iter as random_iter (#1305, #1500)
• Rename fn Rng::gen to random to avoid conflict with the new gen keyword in Rust 2024 (#1438)
• Rename fns Rng::gen_range to random_range, gen_bool to random_bool, gen_ratio to random_ratio (#1505)
• Annotate panicking methods with #[track_caller] (#1442, #1447)

RNGs

• Make ReseedingRng::reseed discard remaining data from the last block generated (#1379)
• Change fn SmallRng::seed_from_u64 implementation (#1203)
• Fix <SmallRng as SeedableRng>::Seed size to 256 bits (#1455)
• Remove first parameter (rng) of ReseedingRng::new (#1533)
• Improve SmallRng initialization performance (#1482)

Sequences

• Optimize fn sample_floyd, affecting output of rand::seq::index::sample and rand::seq::SliceRandom::choose_multiple (#1277)
• New, faster algorithms for IteratorRandom::choose and choose_stable (#1268)
• New, faster algorithms for SliceRandom::shuffle and partial_shuffle (#1272)
• Split trait SliceRandom into IndexedRandom, IndexedMutRandom, SliceRandom (#1382)
• Add IndexedRandom::choose_multiple_array, index::sample_array (#1453, #1469)
• Fix IndexdRandom::choose_multiple_weighted for very small seeds and optimize for large input length / low memory (#1530)

Distributions

• Rename module rand::distributions to rand::distr (#1470)
• Relax Sized bound on Distribution<T> for &D (#1278)
• Rename distribution Standard to StandardUniform (#1526)
• Remove impl of Distribution<Option<T>> for StandardUniform (#1526)
• Let distribution StandardUniform support all NonZero* types (#1332)
• Fns {Uniform, UniformSampler}::{new, new_inclusive} return a Result (instead of potentially panicking) (#1229)
• Distribution Uniform implements TryFrom instead of From for ranges (#1229)
• Optimize distribution Uniform: use Canon's method (single sampling) / Lemire's method (distribution sampling) for faster sampling (breaks value stability; #1287)
• Add UniformUsize and use to make Uniform for usize portable (#1487)
• Optimize fn sample_single_inclusive for floats (+~20% perf) (#1289)
• Allow UniformFloat::new samples and UniformFloat::sample_single to yield high (#1462)
• Add impl DistString for distributions Slice<char> and Uniform<char> (#1315)
• Add fn Slice::num_choices (#1402)
• Fix portability of distribution Slice (#1469)
• Add trait Weight, allowing WeightedIndex to trap overflow (#1353)
• Add fns weight, weights, total_weight to distribution WeightedIndex (#1420)
• Rename enum WeightedError to WeightError, revising variants (#1382) and mark as #[non_exhaustive] (#1480)
• Add fn p() for distribution Bernoulli to access probability (#1481)

SIMD

• Switch to std::simd, expand SIMD & docs (#1239)
• Optimise SIMD widening multiply (#1247)

Documentation

• Add Cargo.lock.msrv file (#1275)
• Docs: enable experimental --generate-link-to-definition feature (#1327)
• Better doc of crate features, use doc_auto_cfg (#1411, #1450)

Other

• Reformat with rustfmt and enforce (#1448)
• Apply Clippy suggestions and enforce (#1448, #1474)
• Move all benchmarks to new benches crate (#1329, #1439) and migrate to Criterion (#1490)

New Contributors

• @MichaelOwenDyer made their first contribution in #1405
• @JustusFluegel made their first contribution in #1402
• @acceptacross made their first contribution in #1407
• @waywardmonkeys made their first contribution in #1472
• @clarfonthey made their first contribution in #1491
• @arthurprs made their first contribution in #1482
• @marcpabst made their first contribution in #1481
• @JamboChen made their first contribution in #1504
• @oconnor663 made their first contribution in #1488
• @ComputerDruid made their first contribution in #1534

Full Changelog: 0.9.0-alpha.0...0.9.0-beta.0