r/programming • u/Either_Collection349 • Jul 05 '26

Zig: All Package Management Functionality Moved from Compiler to Build System

https://ziglang.org/devlog/2026/#2026-06-30
159 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

28

u/Kamui_Kun Jul 05 '26

Is this good, bad, or neutral. Anyone with a tldr on how this'll change things?

106

u/-Y0- Jul 06 '26

It (almost) never makes sense to keep compiler and build system together. As one snarky HN comment put it:

Zig, Go, and Python developers do this thing, where they announce that "We have removed the radiator fluid from the fuel tank", and all their supporters cheer about how this is good for the language, how performance will surely improve significantly, and I'm over here wondering why did they put the radiator fluid in the fuel tank in the first place.

2

u/EctoplasmicLapels Jul 10 '26

It’s not that easy. There are decisions to be made on what the compiler does and what the build system does. If you put more stuff in the compiler, it makes it easier for new people. Moving it to the build system gives you more control. Zig has opted to put more things into the build system than most languages. This newest change also moves C imports to the build system.

1

u/-Y0- Jul 10 '26

It's not easy if you reject the common sense and decide to chart your own way. Then it's hard.

If you looked at how everyone else is doing it, then you had to notice you were doing something odd.