johnthagen/min-sized-rust

Document removing the embedded backtracer

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#78 opened on Apr 13, 2025

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 (1 comment) (4 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (144 forks)batch import
good first issue

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Description

As suggested in https://github.com/google/bloaty/issues/110#issuecomment-2571410292 and discussed in a Reddit post, disabling the backtrace feature in std can reduce the binary size by a fixed amount of ~300 kB. This may be significant for programs aiming to be absolutely minimal, e.g. a "Hello, world!" program can be reduced in size by 83%.

This information could be added to the Abort on Panic section, as the embedded backtracer should be unused when aborting on panic!()s.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Add documentation about disabling the backtrace feature in std to reduce binary size, specifically in the Abort on Panic section.
Tech stack
rust
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
1
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
None
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
90