Google Wants To See Rust Code In The Linux Kernel, Contracts The Main Developer

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Google Wants To See Rust Code In The Linux Kernel, Contracts The Main Developer

Google wants to see Rust programming language support within the Linux kernel so much so that they have contracted the lead developer working on "Rust for Linux" as the work aims to get mainlined...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Google-Wants-Rust-In-Kernel

[schmidtbag]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

EDIT:
I'm not saying Google should be using Go...

[kaprikawn]

While I'm not necessarily opposed to this per se, it does feel like the motivation for this is more geared towards Rust being the hot new thing, and some opinionated/unverified "best-practice" dogma rather than based in actual technical merits.

I have no evidence to back this up, it's just my gut feeling.

I think if the devs at Google want to scratch a Rust itch, maybe they should be contributing to RedoxOS rather than introducing (arguably) unnecessary dependencies on building the Linux kernel. But hey, I think that battle is already lost with recent news that there's some Rust going into the kernel (or is it already in?).

[RahulSundaram]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

Not at all strange. For one, Rust is managed by the Rust foundation now and Go is entirely unsuitable for the kernel due to the requirement of a garbage collector.

[kpedersen]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

Perhaps also they feel if they can just squeeze one non-C language in there, it will become a free for all and open it up for all the rest of their volatile "offerings".

[moltonel]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

Right tool for the job, Go isn't suitable for a kernel. Also, Rust has never been a "Mozilla language" as much as Go is a "Google language". Rust has been much more open to the community from the start, Mozilla became a minority contributor quickly enough, and Rust contributors are now very diverse.

[Vistaus]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

Eh, Mozilla basically lives off of Google *financially* according to Mozilla's statistics, so it's not strange for Google to use something from a company they heavily invest in.

[moltonel]

it does feel like the motivation for this is more geared towards Rust being the hot new thing, and some opinionated/unverified "best-practice" dogma rather than based in actual technical merits.

Rust has some strong opinions and has been surrounded by a fair amount of hype (things are calming down on this front), but it's based on strong technical merit, decades of hindsight, and a lot of practical and academic verifications.

I think if the devs at Google want to scratch a Rust itch, maybe they should be contributing to RedoxOS rather than introducing (arguably) unnecessary dependencies on building the Linux kernel.

Again, the fact that some people like Rust isn't incompatible with the fact Rust has strong technical merits. Here, it's clearly the later aspect that motivates the inclusion of Rust in the Linux kernel. And it's a work in progress under intense scrutiny; it won't get merged unless it's clear that the pros outweigh the cons.

[evasb]

What about one more developer for https://github.com/Rust-GCC/gccrs? Rust's portability is a joke.

[microcode]

A little strange Google wants to support a Mozilla language, when they have Go.

They have basically completely different use cases. Go in the kernel is a nonstarter because it relies on garbage collection.