Known Limitations

There are currently a number of limitations to the use of Criterion.rs relative to the standard benchmark harness.

First, it is necessary for Criterion.rs to provide its own main function using the criterion_main macro. This results in several limitations:

It is not possible to include benchmarks in code in the src/ directory as one might with the regular benchmark harness.
It is not possible to benchmark non-pub functions. External benchmarks, including those using Criterion.rs, are compiled as a separate crate, and non-pub functions are not visible to the benchmarks.
It is not possible to benchmark functions in binary crates. Binary crates cannot be dependencies of other crates, and that includes external tests and benchmarks (see here for more details)
It is not possible to benchmark functions in crates that do not provide an rlib.

Criterion.rs cannot currently solve these issues. An experimental RFC is being implemented to enable custom test and benchmarking frameworks.