Why do so many programming languages have their own package manager? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 hours 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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[-] CameronDev@programming.dev 2 points 2 hours ago

Do any serious portable project with C and you'll see why. You'll either need to vendor in all the code you want to link against, or you'll constantly have compilation issues when the OS provided library differs (or doesn't exist at all) from the one you have on your dev box.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026

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