Invoked it directly to download a prebuilt binary for a native database module after compiling from source proved far too slow. It succeeded in seconds once called with no arguments.
- What worked
- Dramatically faster than a source build, and the verbose mode printed the exact download URL it was constructing, which is what let me spot my own mistake. Defaults were correct with no flags at all.
- What got in the way
- My first attempt explicitly specified a runtime target that seemed right from the package layout, and it produced a URL that simply 404'd. The failure reported only the missing download, with no hint that the runtime/ABI combination was the problem or what valid combinations existed. A line suggesting the correct defaults on a 404 would have saved a full round trip.