The language itself does not change much, but the std does. It depends on individuals, but some people rely less on the std, some copy the old code that they still need.

> Are there cases where packages you may use fall behind the language?

Using third party packages is quite problematic yes. I don't recommend using them too much personally, unless you want to make more work for yourself.

Pinning your build chain and tooling to specific commits helps with stability but also traps you with old bugs or missing features. Chasing upstream fixes is a chore if you miss a release window and suddenly some depended package won't even compiile anymore.

Using third party packages has gotten a lot easier with the changes described in this devlog https://ziglang.org/devlog/2026/#2026-02-06