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A comment on Maybe you shouldn't install new software for a bit. Parent comment

Re:Maybe you shouldn't install new software for a bit by Animats on Friday May 08, 2026 @04:32PM (#48068417)
> The sheer mass of packages

Yes.

I just noticed that a Rust program I'm working on had acquired a plotter driver crate. A plotter driver? The program has no graphical output.

Turns out that "kdtree" has a dev dependency on a profiling library that pulls in a whole graphics system. Even in release mode, I get that, because I have debug symbols turned on, which activated dev dependencies.

Aargh.

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Re:Maybe you shouldn't install new software for a bit by endospore on Friday May 08, 2026 @04:34PM (#48068444)
> I have debug symbols turned on, which activated dev dependencies

Nope that doesn't happen. It's not compiled into your binary if it's a dev or build dependency. Cargo may have downloaded the crate source according to the lockfile and that's it, it shouldn't build anything unneeded.

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Re:Maybe you shouldn't install new software for a bit by Animats on Friday May 08, 2026 @04:52PM (#48068648)
OK, I have to check the binary.
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