All Package Management Functionality Moved from Compiler to Build System
The Zig programming language project has moved all package management functionality from the compiler to the build system. This change aims to simplify the compiler and make package management more flexible and maintainable as part of the build process.
Background
Zig is a modern systems programming language (like C or Rust) focused on simplicity, performance, and cross-compilation. Its build system and package manager are part of the same project. Previously, the compiler itself had built-in package management features (fetching dependencies, resolving versions). This change moves all of that logic out of the compiler binary and into the build system (Zig's `build.zig` tooling), keeping the compiler leaner and more stable. The motivation is maintainability: package management evolves faster than the compiler, and keeping them separate reduces compiler complexity and security surface area. This is a notable architectural decision because most languages (Rust's Cargo, Go's modules) tightly integrate package management with their toolchain; Zig deliberately decouples it.