"Why is the Rust compiler so slow?"
I spent a month repeatedly building my website in Docker, and now have horrors to share.
I've got a problem.
My website (the one you're reading right now) is mainly served by a single Rust binary. For far too long now, every time I wanted to make a change, I would:
Build a new statically linked binary (with --target=x86_64-unknown-linux-musl ) Copy it to my server Restart the website
This is... not ideal.
So instead, I'd like to switch to deploying my website with containers (be it Docker, Kubernetes, or otherwise), matching the vast majority of software deployed any time in the last decade.
The only issue is that fast Rust builds with Docker are not simple.
Update (2025-06-27) I first posted this on Bluesky — there was some good discussion there ❤️ Special thanks to Piotr Osiewicz & Wesley Moore for suggestions that saved a ton more time.
More on those closer to the end. It was also reposted over on r/rust, r/programming and hackernews. Plenty of entertaining comments, if you're in the mood.
... continue reading