Solana v1.17 uses the same Solana platform-tools v1.37 and Rust v1.68.0 as Solana v1.16

[andreisilviudragnea]

• Solana platform-tools v1.37 got released on April 1, 2023. It uses Rust v1.68.0, released on March 9, 2023.
• Solana v1.16.0 got released on May 31, 2023 and uses Solana platform-tools v1.37 with Rust v1.68.0.
• Solana platform-tools v1.38 got released on Aug 20, 2023 and it still uses Rust v1.68.0.
• Solana v1.17.0 got released on Oct 2, 2023 and still uses Solana platform-tools v1.37 with Rust v1.68.0.
• Solana platform-tools v1.39 got released on Oct 21, 2023 and uses Rust v1.72.0, released on Aug 24, 2023.
• Solana v1.18.0 got released on Jan 27, 2024 and uses Solana platform-tools v1.39 with Rust v1.72.0.

I summarized the information above in the following table:

Solana version	Solana release date	Solana program Rust version	Rust release date	Difference between Solana version and Rust version
v1.16.0	May 31, 2023	v1.68.0	March 9, 2023	2 months
v1.17.0	Oct 2, 2023	v1.68.0	March 9, 2023	7 months
v.18.0	Jan 27, 2024	v1.72.0	Aug 24, 2023	5 months

Is the 7 month delay between the initial release of Rust v1.68.0 and Solana v1.17.0 intentional?

I am asking because it is almost an year since the release of Rust v1.68.0 and the current Solana v1.17.24 release uses a 1-year old version of Rust v1.68.0 for building Solana programs.

I believe this hinders Solana program developer experience, since some packages require Rust versions newer than v1.68.0.

I got sent to this repository from solana-labs#35428.

[LucasSte]

Solana v1.18 now contains platform tools v1.41 with Rust 1.75: #362