lance-format / lance-format/lance

Remove `protoc` requirement

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#3,073 10 comments 10 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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good first issue
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Trying to add lance as a dependency currently results in a build error:

error: failed to run custom build command for `lance-encoding v0.18.2`
Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `lance-encoding-b1cb34df4c6a6aa9/build-script-build` (exit status: 1)
  --- stdout
  cargo:rerun-if-changed=protos

  --- stderr
  Error: Custom { kind: NotFound, error: "Could not find `protoc`. If `protoc` is installed, try setting the `PROTOC` environment variable to the path of the `protoc` binary. To install it on Debian, run `apt-get install protobuf-compiler`. It is also available at https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases  For more information: https://docs.rs/prost-build/#sourcing-protoc" }

You should instead check in the generated code, and include it in the crate. The build.rs should do nothing (or ideally, not exist).

I would consider this issue done when cargo build -p lance works WITHOUT having protoc already on PATH

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in the lance-encoding build.rs and inspect the protos input and current generated-code flow. Run cargo build -p lance in an environment without protoc, then verify the build succeeds without that executable available.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
build-system
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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