Drop support for Visual Studio 11 (2012) by dpaoliello · Pull Request #981 · rust-lang/cc-rs (original) (raw)

I'm removing the comment about OS support, since it isn't actually relevant: you can use a later toolchain and Windows SDK to build a binary that works on older versions of Windows (you just need to be careful not to use an API that was added later). So the fact that VS 2012 was tied to the Windows 8 SDK doesn't mean that cc-rs can't build a Windows 8 compatible binary using a later toolchain and SDK.

As for maintenance burden, I've realized that there is large burden that currently isn't being paid: testing compatibility. Although the code to find VS 2012 is small and unlikely to change, there is no guarantee that cc-rs and the Rust compiler won't start using a new feature in either cl or link that doesn't exist in VS 2012. Currently there is no testing for these older toolchains, and the fact that cc-rs can find and attempt to use an older toolchain creates an implicit contract that cc-rs (and, thus, the Rust compiler), by default, will work with these old toolchains.

It seems reasonable to me that cc-rs should have the policy to drop support for a toolchain once the vendor no longer supports it since testing that older toolchain and attempting to reproduct issues will become increasingly difficult.