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221

Linux royalty backs adoption of Rust for kernel code (www.theregister.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

57 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Greg Kroah-Hartman... urged fellow contributors to embrace those interested in contributing Rust code to improve the kernel.

"Adding another language really shouldn't be a problem... embrace the people offering to join us

Thoughts on this?

(page 2) 7 comments

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[+] [email protected] -19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

That does NOT sound like a good idea.

We've turned our development model into a well-oiled engineering marvel,

Exactly, and I'm pretty sure one of the reasons is that it's remained on C, and NOT switched to C++, as has been often suggested.
The second they make it a mixed code base, that's the same second quality will deteriorate. Mixed code base is a recipe for disaster.

Edit:

Torvalds eventually responded by defending the Linux kernel development process and scolding Martin for grandstanding on social media about the issue. Martin later quit as a Linux maintainer and resigned from the Asahi Linux project.

Seems like Linus isn't onboard with this.

But I guess all the downvoters know better?

opening for a mixed code base is a recipe for disaster.

Greg Kroah-Hartman:

Yes, mixed language codebases are rough, and hard to maintain, but we are kernel developers, dammit.

That's special pleading, that lacks basis in reality. Still he admits it's rough to mix codebases.

I'm not claiming Rust wouldn't be brilliant in some situations, but the detraction of a mixed codebase is worse than the benefit.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Moving from C to C++ would also not solve any real problem. C++ of course adds OOP which I think can be nice (not everyone agrees with this!) but it also adds an insane amount of language complexity and instability. Mentally reasoning about C code is hard, reasoning about C++ code is nearly impossible.

Rust however brings a novel solution to classes of problems like ownership and mutability with the borrow checker. It's now accepted to be a great tool for writing high performance code while preventing a substantial amount of common, but often subtle, bugs from slipping through. It's not arbitrarily the first non-C code to be accepted in the kernel. And it's used in other operating systems like Android and Windows already.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

Mostly this ^.

There's just not really demand for C++ in the kernel; that's not the case with Rust.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 month ago (14 children)

I’ve gotten into the most hilariously circular debates with rust opponents on this point. Their arguments tend to come down to “just don’t write bad code”.

The team is only as strong as the weakest link. The release is only as good as the least talented dev. Tools that raise the entire foundation are objectively good. Even better are tools that outright prohibit you from even writing entire categories of bugs. Rust is that tool.

And yeah I know it’s not perfect, and it shouldn’t be treated as a panacea. But its advantages should be lauded, not derided because some contributors like to maintain the walled garden of knowledge as if it were a secret spellbook.

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