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Why do so many programming languages have their own package manager? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 weeks ago by DeltaWingDragon@sh.itjust.works to c/programming@programming.dev
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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/64685863

Lots of programming languages have their own package manager, separate from the distribution or OS package manager.

Going loosely from the TIOBE index:

  • Python has Pip
  • C# has NuGet
  • Javascript has npm for Node.js
  • Visual Basic also uses NuGet
  • R has a repository of packages that can be installed by running install.packages("something") in R
  • Rust has Cargo/Crates
  • Go has the go get command
  • Swift has its own package manager swift package
  • Ruby has RubyGems
  • Java has Maven and Gradle (not sure if they are full package managers, or build automation tools with dependency resolution)
  • PHP has Composer for managing libraries and dependencies
  • C and C++ are the only exceptions I can think of, off the top of my head; libraries are managed by, and coupled to, the operating system
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[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 13 points 3 weeks ago

I think that nix might be on the way to solving that problem. It does need a lot of work though.

[-] chaospatterns@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Now you have two package managers. The problem is that Nix needs to create a folder structure that matches what your language package manager wants to see.

Even if the language package manager goes away, languages have slight differences that can't be totally abstracted away. C/C++ have .h and .c files. JS has its own thing, C# has a .dll. Each language has difference opinions on how symbols get resolved.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026
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