Rust For The Linux Kernel Sent Out For Review A Fourth Time

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Rust For The Linux Kernel Sent Out For Review A Fourth Time

Miguel Ojeda just sent out the fourth revision of the Rust programming language support for use within the Linux kernel. This optional Rust programming support for Linux kernel drivers and the likes continues maturing and this year will hopefully see mainline status...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Rust-For-Linux-Kernel-v4

[betty567]

Rust: The corrosion of iron to iron oxide, weakening structural integrity
Rusty: To be out of practice

"The Rust support is still to be considered experimental. However, support is good enough that kernel developers can start working on the Rust abstractions for subsystems and write drivers and other modules."

So the idea is to turn the Linux kernel into a bastardized mix of C and Rust? Have the Linux kernel developers seen how badly a pure Rust OS kernel is going in Redox OS?

[Developer12]

Rust: The corrosion of iron to iron oxide, weakening structural integrity
Rusty: To be out of practice

"The Rust support is still to be considered experimental. However, support is good enough that kernel developers can start working on the Rust abstractions for subsystems and write drivers and other modules."

So the idea is to turn the Linux kernel into a bastardized mix of C and Rust? Have the Linux kernel developers seen how badly a pure Rust OS kernel is going in Redox OS?

No Idea wtf you're talking about. Hell, they mitigated spectre in like 3 days?

[brad0]

Rust: The corrosion of iron to iron oxide, weakening structural integrity
Rusty: To be out of practice

"The Rust support is still to be considered experimental. However, support is good enough that kernel developers can start working on the Rust abstractions for subsystems and write drivers and other modules."

So the idea is to turn the Linux kernel into a bastardized mix of C and Rust? Have the Linux kernel developers seen how badly a pure Rust OS kernel is going in Redox OS?

Yes, a significantly less portable bastardized mix.

[jacob]

No Idea wtf you're talking about. Hell, they mitigated spectre in like 3 days?

Don't feed the troll

[darkonix]

Yes, a significantly less portable bastardized mix.

How would it be less portable? The project is to add experimental support for the development of new drivers in Rust. I'm guessing no one will develop a driver for an platform that doesn't support your compiler, right?

[bachchain]

Have the Linux kernel developers seen how badly a pure Rust OS kernel is going in Redox OS?

They probably saw the state of Redox after four years compared to the state of Hurd after 30 years and figured Rust must be doing something right.

[brad0]

How would it be less portable? The project is to add experimental support for the development of new drivers in Rust. I'm guessing no one will develop a driver for an platform that doesn't support your compiler, right?

You need a compiler to build the code. Your guessing is an assumption and is the whole point of why people are wary of such an addition and why there has been pushback against it being added. This goes beyond just device drivers too.

[brad0]

They probably saw the state of Redox after four years compared to the state of Hurd after 30 years and figured Rust must be doing something right.

That made absolutely no sense.

[jacob]

I wonder what are the implications for DKMS, what's needed for it to be able to build Rust drivers?