---
name: cargo-test-tests-stops-at-first-failing-binary
description: "cargo test --tests aborts after the FIRST failing test binary — every suite alphabetically after it silently never runs; a \"clean run\" can be silence over the untested tail. --no-fail-fast or nextest required for sweeps."
metadata: 
  node_type: memory
  type: project
  originSessionId: 4f0b1af3-ab68-4029-ab2c-d0287c0e0fba
  modified: 2026-08-20T00:55:22.988Z
---

`cargo test --tests` (and `--all-targets`) stops launching test binaries after the
first one that FAILS. Every test binary alphabetically after the failure **never
runs at all** — and nothing in the output says so. A sweep that red-ed on
`attach_resize_capture` (early alphabet) never reached `wanmsg`, `twohost`, or
anything later; fixing the early red and re-running "green" would still be
evidence only about the prefix.

**Rule:** any sweep whose verdict claims suite-wide coverage needs
`--no-fail-fast` (cargo) or `cargo nextest run` (which runs everything by
default). Measured by todlando during the #170 build (2026-08-19), reported at
the W3 gate; same silence-over-the-tail class as [[exit-code-after-a-pipe-is-the-tails]]
and the filter traps in GATE-TEST-INDEX.

**Rider (doyle's W3 rig, same day):** `xtask gen` on an autocrlf=true checkout
leaves regenerated files porcelain-`M` on **EOL alone** — `git status` says
modified, `git diff` (content-normalized) is EMPTY. Measure regen drift by
`git diff`, never by porcelain, or a zero-drift regen reads as a drift finding.
Kin: [[include-str-does-not-normalize-crlf]].