The build time claim in the blog post is dubious, part of the problem is CGO isn't fast, but al...

raggi • today at 8:20 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

The build time claim in the blog post is dubious, part of the problem is CGO isn't fast, but also if build time was really a motivator the null build path is entirely unoptimized for objects with long build times:

cached null (no changes) build:

        ~github/unstablebuild/rune % make
        pre-commit not installed; skipping git hook setup
        cd cmd/buildstamp && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/buildstamp
        cd cmd/extension_chaos && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_chaos
        cd cmd/extension_color_palette && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_color_palette
        cd cmd/extension_fuzzy_search && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_fuzzy_search
        cd cmd/extension_go && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_go
        cd cmd/extension_python && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_python
        cd cmd/extension_rtc && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_rtc
        cd cmd/extension_rust && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_rust
        cd cmd/extension_zig && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/extension_zig
        cd cmd/runefox && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/runefox
        cd cmd/sshshop && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/sshshop
        cd cmd/walkbench && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build  -ldflags="-X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Tag=$(git describe --tags) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Commit=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.BuildDate=2026-09-11T20:16:22Z  -X unstable.build/rune/internal/debug.Package=six" -o ../../bin/walkbench
        make  35.90s user 5.88s system 191% cpu 21.846 total 1975848 rss

vs. cached non-null (changed) build:

    ~github/zed-industries/zed % touch crates/zed/src/zed.rs
    ~github/zed-industries/zed % cargo build
       Compiling zed v1.18.0 (/home/raggi/src/github.com/zed-industries/zed/crates/zed)
       Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 8.42s
    cargo build  10.15s user 9.34s system 228% cpu 8.531 total 7930312 rss

Build times are a valid thing to care about and talk about, but the claims implied don't stand up to scrutiny.

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raggi • today at 8:31 PM

Similar reflection, I ran `kitten __benchmark__ --render` in rune, the CPU time spent was 1:55. I ran the same in a libghostty based terminal emulator and spent 0:44 on CPU.

I say this only because yes you can do engineering to meet the benchmark without dropping to deeper systems layers, but closing the gap on efficiency is hard. I'm not saying this to be a downer on your project - an IDE and VTE in Go are a fun project to have around, but the blog post makes implied claims of equivalence with moderate investment - but I think that's limited to single benchmark chasing. I say this as a polyglot who's day job is a Go based program that would be far easier to optimize in a systems language.

alt Hacker News

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