Linux's VGEM Kernel Driver Being Rewritten In Rust

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux's VGEM Kernel Driver Being Rewritten In Rust

In addition to the in-development Apple M1/M2 DRM kernel graphics/display driver being written in Rust, there is now a second graphics-related kernel driver seeing early work in Rust. The existing VGEM driver is being rewritten in the Rust programming language...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-VGEM-Rust

[Mario Junior]

Rewrite rust in rust too.

[ssokolow]

Rewrite rust in rust too.

They're already working on it.

The goal of this project is to create an alternative codegen backend for the rust compiler based on Cranelift. This has the potential to improve compilation times in debug mode.

[Mario Junior]

They're already working on it.

You most be kidding me... 😂

[tchiwam]

Will be fun to check performances. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

[karolherbst]

🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀 :3

[juxuanu]

Hopefully these kind of news become more common over time.

[Sethox]

Hopefully these kind of news become more common over time.

This is the sort of spreading news that makes me want to learn Rust myself, because then it's possible to contribute myself in the Linux Community (and beyond).

[RahulSundaram]

You most be kidding me... 😂

Not really. It is a fairly common step in a language to write the compiler in the language itself after a point. Go did this a few years back for example.

[ids1024]

Not really. It is a fairly common step in a language to write the compiler in the language itself after a point. Go did this a few years back for example.

Rust's compiler has been written in Rust for a long time. Though the earliest prototypes were in OCaml.

But it does use LLVM for codegen. rustc_codegen_cranelift isn't really meant to replace that so much as to offer an alternative specifically for faster unoptimized builds, while LLVM would still offer more performant optimized builds. (And cranelift itself was created for use as a WASM JIT. Not initially/specifically for compiling Rust.)