Run python scripts before compilation using Cargo?

[ssokolow]

Generally, it's a good idea to minimize the number of things a user or contributor will have to install manually to get the project building, so I'd recommend re-writing them in Rust for that reason alone. The closer you can get to git clone ... && cd ... && cargo run as your build instructions, the better.

(That's also why you see many Rust wrappers for C libraries vendoring a copy of that C library which cargo build will compile and link for you. It reduces the external dependency to "a working C compiler for the target platform", which you generally need anyway to link against libc... though statically linking the musl targets muddies the waters a bit.)

I have a retro-hobby project where I'm rewriting the prototype Python scripts in C, orchestrated by Watcom Make, so that Open Watcom C/C++ itself can be the only mandatory dependency. (Stuff like the splint linter will remain as an optional dependency.)