Is there a way to specify a git branch in a path dependency in the Cargo.toml?

Question

Let's say I have checked out a git repository locally and I would like to add a specific branch/tag as a dependency to a Cargo.toml of a rust codebase. Is there a way to do it?

I've already tried the following without success:

dep = { path = "../path/to/git/repo", branch = "hello-world" }
dep = { path = "../path/to/git/repo", rev = "12345" }

Answer 1

path is for path dependencies. You should use git with an absolute path for local git dependencies:

# Cargo.toml
dep = { git = "file:///absolute/path/to/git/repo", rev = "12345" }

Answer 2

You can only use branch if your git dependency specifies a remote server. If it does, then this works

# Cargo.toml
dep = { git = https://<path_to_remove_git_repo>.git", branch = "hello-world" }

If you use path to specify a dependency, the code on your local machine will be read, so it would depend on which branch was checked out (loaded) on your local machine.