Zlib-rs is faster than C

Which library compiles faster.

Which library has fewer dependencies.

Is each library the same size. Which one is smaller.

I would argue compile time changes don't matter much, as the amount of data going through zlib all across the world is so large, that any performance gain should more than compensate any additional compilation time (and zlib-rs compiles in a couple of seconds anyway on my laptop).

As for dependencies: zlib, zlib-ng and zlib-rs all obviously need some access to OS APIs for filesystem access if compiled with that functionality. At least for zlib-rs: if you provide an allocator and don't need any of the file IO you can compile it without any dependencies (not even standard library or libc, just a couple of core types are needed). zlib-rs does have some testing dependencies though, but I think that is fair. All in: all of them use almost exactly the same external dependencies (i.e.: nothing aside from libc-like functionality).

zlib-rs is a bit bigger by default (around 400KB), with some of the Rust machinery. But if you change some of that (i.e. panic=abort), use a nightly compiler (unfortunately still needed for the right flags) and add the right flags both libraries are virtually the same size, with zlib at about 119KB and zlib-rs at about 118KB.

One of the things I like about C is I can download a statically-compiled native GCC for use on a computer with modest amounts of memory, storage and a relatively old, slow CPU. Total size uncompressed is 242.3MB.

Using this I can statically compile a cross-compiler. Total size uncompressed 169.4MB.

I use GCC to compille zlib and a wide variety of other software. I can build an operating system from the ground up.

Perhaps someday during my lifetime it will be possible to compile programs written in Rust using inexpensive computers with modest amounts of memory, storage and relatively slow CPUs. Meanwhille, there is C.

> Which library has fewer dependencies.

This is not insignificant.

Remember xz? That could have been a disaster.

That the language includes a package manager that fetches an assortment of libraries from who knows whom on demand doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the process to me. Alice's secure AES implementation might bring Eve's string padding function along for the ride.

Rust(TM) the language might be (memory) safe in theory but I have serious issues (t)rusting (t)rust and anything built with it.