--- /dev/null
+% Replacing sources
+
+Cargo supports the ability to **replace one source with another** to express
+strategies along the lines of mirrors or vendoering dependencies. Configuration
+is currently done through the [`.cargo/config` configuration][config] mechanism,
+like so:
+
+[config]: config.html
+
+```toml
+# The `source` table is where all keys related to source-replacement
+# are store.
+[source]
+
+# Under the `source` table are a number of other tables whose keys are a
+# name for the relevant source. For example this section defines a new
+# source, called `my-awesome-source`, which comes from a directory
+# located at `vendor` relative to the directory containing this `.cargo/config`
+# file
+[source.my-awesome-source]
+directory = "vendor"
+
+# The crates.io default source for crates is available under the name
+# "crates-io", and here we use the `replace-with` key to indicate that it's
+# replaced with our source above.
+[source.crates-io]
+replace-with = "my-awesome-source"
+```
+
+With this configuration Cargo attempt to look up all crates in the directory
+"vendor" rather than querying the online registry at crates.io. Using source
+replacement Cargo can express:
+
+* Vendoring - custom sources can be defined which represent crates on the local
+ filesystem. These sources are subsets of the source that they're replacing and
+ can be checked into projects if necessary.
+
+* Mirroring - sources can be replaced with an equivalent version which acts as a
+ cache for crates.io itself.
+
+Cargo has a core assumption about source replacement that the source code is
+exactly the same from both sources. In our above example Cargo assumes that all
+of the crates coming from `my-awesome-source` are the exact same as the copies
+from `crates-io`. Note that this also means that `my-awesome-source` is not
+allowed to have crates which are not present in the `crates-io` source.
+
+As a consequence, source replacement is not appropriate for situations such as
+patching a dependency or a private registry. Cargo supports patching
+dependencies through the usage of [the `[replace]` key][replace-section], and
+private registry support is planned for a future version of Cargo.
+
+[replace-section]: manifest.html#the-replace-section
+
+## Configuration
+
+Configuration of replacement sources is done through [`.cargo/config`][config]
+and the full set of available keys are:
+
+```toml
+# Each source has its own table where the key is the name of the source
+[source.the-source-name]
+
+# Indicate that `the-source-name` will be replaced with `another-source`,
+# defined elsewhere
+replace-with = "another-source"
+
+# Available kinds of sources that can be specified (described below)
+registry = "https://example.com/path/to/index"
+local-registry = "path/to/registry"
+directory = "path/to/vendor"
+```
+
+The `crates-io` represents the crates.io online registry (default source of
+crates) and can be replaced with:
+
+```toml
+[source.crates-io]
+replace-with = 'another-source'
+```
+
+## Registry Sources
+
+A "registry source" is one that is the same as crates.io itself. That is, it has
+an index served in a git repository which matches the format of the
+[crates.io index](https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index). That repository
+then has configuration indicating where to download crates from.
+
+Currently there is not an already-available project for setting up a mirror of
+crates.io. Stay tuned though!
+
+## Local Registry Sources
+
+A "local registry source" is intended to be a subset of another registry
+source, but available on the local filesystem (aka vendoring). Local registries
+are downloaded ahead of time, typically sync'd with a `Cargo.lock`, and are
+made up of a set of `*.crate` files and an index like the normal registry is.
+
+The primary way to manage and crate local registry sources is through the
+[`cargo-local-registry`][cargo-local-registry] subcommand, available on
+crates.io and can be installed with `cargo install cargo-local-registry`.
+
+[cargo-local-registry]: https://crates.io/crates/cargo-local-registry
+
+Local registries are contained within one directory and contain a number of
+`*.crate` files downloaded from crates.io as well as an `index` directory with
+the same format as the crates.io-index project (populated with just entries for
+the crates that are present).
+
+## Directory Sources
+
+A "directory source" is similar to a local registry source where it contains a
+number of crates available on the local filesystem, suitable for vendoring
+dependencies. Also like local registries, directory sources can primarily be
+managed by an external subcommand, [`cargo-vendor`][cargo-vendor], which can be
+installed with `cargo install cargo-vendor`.
+
+[cargo-vendor]: https://crates.io/crates/cargo-vendor
+
+Directory sources are distinct from local registries though in that they contain
+the unpacked version of `*.crate` files, making it more suitable in some
+situations to check everything into source control. A directory source is just a
+directory containing a number of other directories which contain the source code
+for crates (the unpacked version of `*.crate` files). Currently no restriction
+is placed on the name of each directory.
+
+Each crate in a directory source also has an associated metadata file indicating
+the checksum of each file in the crate to protect against accidental
+modifications.
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