[Bug 2036123] Re: [FFe] Remove Windows libraries from Rust source package

[Zixing Liu]

> But can you describe explicitly how and when these Windows libraries
are used, so we can decide how confident we are that this change will
not impact behavior of the rustc package in Ubuntu?

Yes. Those Windows libraries included in the Rust source tarball are not
for end-user consumption (meaning they are not meant to be used by Rust
developers using the compiler).

They are used by Cargo on Windows during the runtime to create job-
servers (since GNU Make-like job-servers are impossible to implement on
Windows). Rust compiler relies on those libraries to print colourful
output on Windows (via comhost.exe).

Removing them doesn't affect the ability of the Rust toolchain to
generate Windows binaries via either the MinGW toolchain or the Wine-
hosted MSVC environment.

In fact, those are actually not compiled into the binary due to
platform-gating. They exist in the Rust source tarball because the
source tarball is for all the support platforms
(Linux/Windows/macOS/*BSD).

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to rustc in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2036123

Title:
  [FFe] Remove Windows libraries from Rust source package

Status in rustc package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  We want to remove Windows libraries (mostly windows-sys and friends)
  from the Rust source package.

  They contain binary blobs and auto-generated code that consume much storage space (~700 MiB).
  Removing them also makes the source package easier to audit.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rustc/+bug/2036123/+subscriptions