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As a user of a C library in Cargo, you don't need to deal with C tooling, just have it installed.

• wtetzner 8y ago
  That means anyone that wants to use a Rust crate that depends on a C library has to somehow install the C library. It's possible that's easy through a package manager, or maybe it's not, and you have to build the C library, and now you have to deal with C tooling.
  • steveklabnik 8y ago
    Some packages give you the option to check for a preinstalled package, and build it if it’s not there. It works pretty cleanly, but it is true that one toolchain is easier than two.
  • floatboth 8y ago
    That only applies to shared libraries. If the crate builds the library and links it statically, you don't see the tooling.
    • wtetzner 8y ago
      Don't you still need C tooling setup for the crate to build the C library? Especially on Windows, this can be a pain.
      • steveklabnik 8y ago
        On Windows, if you’re using the MSVC version, which we recommend, then you’ll have that tooling installed anyway; it’s the only way to get link.exe.