Cargo is still a dev tool and isn't a great distribution solution.
Second, this was in response to an npm is simpler comment; npm and cargo are absolutely the same category of tool.
1) what’s the easiest way to give people access to a tool I just wrote, `cargo publish`
2) what’s the easiest way for someone to use it, as few steps as possible, right now it’s `install rust` && `cargo install`.
Once I get to three or more steps on 2 I tend to turn to just or make depending on the context.
Use github actions or other setup for other backends.
(this is language agnostic and a reasonable thing to learn as a dev).
Or if you must live in the cargo command, go nuts with cargo-release.
local compilation may work for you and other individuals, but "just cargo install" can immediately run into issues if you're trying to deploy something to things that aren't dev workstations
> npm and cargo are absolutely the same category of tool
as a dev tool? absolutely. as a production distribution solution? definitely not
If you’re talking about distributing Rust projects, sure it’s fine. Generally though, if you’re orchestrating a bunch of other things outside the rust software itself, I’d turn to just.
npm is still mainly used in JavaScript and Typescript scenarios, so I think you’re kinda splitting hairs if you’re suggesting it’s a general purpose tool.