Serde: Shipping Precompiled Binaries and the Concerns of Developers
The article discusses the recent change in the Serde framework, where precompiled binaries are now being shipped. This change has raised concerns among developers, particularly those who are unable to redistribute precompiled binaries. The author of the article highlights the issue faced by a developer working on packaging Serde for Fedora Linux, who is unable to distribute the precompiled binaries. The developer suggests patching the Serde library to include the non-precompiled code path as a temporary solution. However, the author of Serde clarifies that the binary is produced using a specific build script and can be recreated by others. The article also mentions the possibility of adapting the Serde_derive crate to fall back to the non-precompiled code path if the binary file is missing. Overall, the article sheds light on the concerns and potential solutions related to the recent change in Serde's shipping of precompiled binaries, providing valuable insights for developers using the framework.