# Add some form of precompiled artifact support to cargo

**URL:** https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/add-some-form-of-precompiled-artifact-support-to-cargo/22871
**Category:** cargo
**Created:** [May 6, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/add-some-form-of-precompiled-artifact-support-to-cargo/22871 "2025-05-06T16:35:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 7

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### Author: ![zackw](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/internals.rust-lang.org/zackw/32/2071_2.png) [@zackw](https://internals.rust-lang.org/u/zackw)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/add-some-form-of-precompiled-artifact-support-to-cargo/22871/7 "2025-05-08T18:31:19Z")

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> [@binarycat](#):
>
> > [@zackw](#):
> >
> > Maybe we need to find some way to make [crates stop shipping binary artifacts]...
> 
> all i can say is good luck.

Well, I'm quite serious when I say that I don't think crates should ever _need_ to ship binary artifacts, and furthermore that the social contract of `crates.io` is that it serves you source and _only_ source, with the possible, grudging exception of prebuilt core Rust toolchains, which you get via a different mechanism than anything else (`rustup` instead of `cargo`). If I caught a crate in my software's dependency graph shipping a binary artifact I would drop that crate _and everything else written by the same people_ from my dependencies and never use them again, that's how strongly I feel about this.

You say that "many" crates are doing this. Please give us your list, and, if you can, explain why the authors of each crate on the list think they need to do this.

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