Comment on Linux royalty backs adoption of Rust for kernel code

• gedhrel@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  lore.kernel.org/…/2025021954-flaccid-pucker-f7d9@…

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  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    For the lazy, I liked these parts:

    Rust isn’t a “silver bullet” that will solve all of our problems, but it sure will help in a huge number of places, so for new stuff going forward, why wouldn’t we want that?

    …

    Yes, I understand our overworked maintainer problem (being one of these people myself), but here we have people actually doing the work!

    The whole thing is great.

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  • gedhrel@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    To add something to this: linux has avoided internal SPIs for a long time. It’s often lauded as one of the reasons it hasn’t ossified.

    However, some subsystems have a huge amount of complexity and hidden constraint in how you correctly use them. Some of that may be inherent, but more of it will be accidental.

    Wrapping type-erased shims around this that attempt to capture (some of) those semantics shines a light onto the problem. The effort raises good technical questions around whether the C layer can be improved. Where maintainers have approached that with an open mind, the results are positive for both C and Rust consumers. Difficult interfaces are a source of bugs; it’s always worth asking whether that difficulty is inherent or accidental.

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