Rust Patches For The Linux Kernel Updated A Fifth Time With New Features

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Rust Patches For The Linux Kernel Updated A Fifth Time With New Features

Miguel Ojeda who has been leading the Rust programming language support for the Linux kernel today posted his fifth spin of this patch series providing the optional Rust integration for the Linux kernel that includes example driver code...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Rust-For-Linux-v5

[White Wolf]

Rust vs. C wars going to begin in 3..2..1..

[uid313]

Rust vs. C wars going to begin in 3..2..1..

C might be good for smart guys who knows what they're doing, and don't do mistakes, but for me C is a footgun, it is like juggling with chainsaws, I can't do it.
I very much like Rust more, because to me its more safer and robust. Though Rust build times are slow and it lacks support for support for async functions in traits. Overall, it's a pretty nice language tho.

[tildearrow]

Every time we talk about Rust vs. C, we somehow never bring up a language called C++.

We should be comparing Rust to C++, not to C.

[sinepgib]

Every time we talk about Rust vs. C, we somehow never bring up a language called C++.

We should be comparing Rust to C++, not to C.

The thing is, C++ backwards compatibility with C puts it in the same league. C is not that much of a problem because of the features it lacks, but because of the misfeatures it has. C++ can add stuff, but for a proper replacement you need to take things away, which renders the difference irrelevant here.

[RahulSundaram]

Every time we talk about Rust vs. C, we somehow never bring up a language called C++.

We should be comparing Rust to C++, not to C.

In the context of the Linux kernel, any comparisons to C++ is pointless, Linus is well known for being deeply against C++

http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/c++/linus

Also there is no active proposal for the Linux kernel to adopt C++ while there is one for Rust, so we can only compare Rust and C here, for other projects that may very well be a valid comparison.

[jacob]

Every time we talk about Rust vs. C, we somehow never bring up a language called C++.

We should be comparing Rust to C++, not to C.

Rust was created as a replacement for C++, that's true, but in practice it sits somewhere between the two.

[jacob]

The support for various architectures continues to be a major limitation of Rust compared to C/C++, but in the context of Linux, I wonder, does anyone anywhere still intend to use and deploy future Linux versions on something other than x64-64, Aarch64 or Power?

[RahulSundaram]

The support for various architectures continues to be a major limitation of Rust compared to C/C++, but in the context of Linux, I wonder, does anyone anywhere still intend to use and deploy future Linux versions on something other than x64-64, Aarch64 or Power?

https://lwn.net/Articles/871283/ covers the two different efforts that will bring broad architecture support and yes, plenty of people continue to use Linux on alternative architectures including on embedded systems and such. Not so much on servers but atleast one of these in your list - Aarch64 has recently become mainstream so it is important to keep that flexibility.

[jacob]

https://lwn.net/Articles/871283/ covers the two different efforts that will bring broad architecture support and yes, plenty of people continue to use Linux on alternative architectures including on embedded systems and such. Not so much on servers but atleast one of these in your list - Aarch64 has recently become mainstream so it is important to keep that flexibility.

Aarch64 is not "alternative". It's a mainstream Linux platform and it has tier1 Rust support so there's no problem whatsoever. In embedded systems, IoT etc yes there is still plenty of MIPS but I guess those won't be looking for brand new kernel features and functionalities developed in Rust, so the lack of first class Rust support shouldn't affect them too much either. Besides, as time goes those products will probably move to ARM too.