60: Simplified Executable Deployment with DotSlash

Meta Tech Podcast

Distributing binaries and toolchains to developers is a pain but DotSlash makes it a breeze. Instead of committing large, platform-specific executables to your repository, DotSlash combines a fast Rust program with a JSON manifest prefixed with a #! to transparently fetch and execute the binary you need. Tune in to our interview with Andres and Michael to learn more.

Got feedback? Send it to us on Threads (https://threads.net/@metatechpod), Twitter (https://twitter.com/metatechpod), Instagram (https://instagram.com/metatechpod) and don’t forget to follow our host @passy (https://twitter.com/passy, https://mastodon.social/@passy, and https://threads.net/@passy_). Fancy working with us? Check out https://www.metacareers.com/.

Links

• Simple Precision Time Protocol at Meta: https://engineering.fb.com/2024/02/07/production-engineering/simple-precision-time-protocol-sptp-meta/

• Meta Time libraries on GitHub: https://github.com/facebook/time

• DotSlash - Simplified executable deployment: https://engineering.fb.com/2024/02/06/developer-tools/dotslash-simplified-executable-deployment/

• DotSlash website: https://dotslash-cli.com/

• DotSlash on GitHub: https://github.com/facebook/dotslash

Timestamps

• Intro 0:05

• Intro Andres 2:30

• Intro Michael 3:39

• Andres's Projects at Meta 3:54

• Michael's Projects at Meta 5:00

• What is DotSlash? 5:30

• DotSlash vs LFS 6:04

• DotSlash vs buck2 run 7:08

• Where is DotSlash used at Meta? 8:45

• How does DotSlash work? 9:37

• DotSlash on Windows 13:15

• How DotSlash is built 16:21

• Bundling the rust toolchain 17:14

• Automated DotSlash file generation 20:33

• DotSlash and remote execution 24:53

• Storage providers 26:27

• Why open-source? 30:05

• Limitations 34:17

• Cache Eviction 36:59

• Outro 39:22

• Bloopers 40:15