To paraphrase an old joke: How do you know if someone is a Rust developer? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. There is a move to put Rust everywhere, even in the Linux kernel. Not going fast enough for you? Then check out Asterinas — an effort to create a Linux-compatible kernel totally in Rust.
The goal is to improve memory safety and, to that end, the project describes what they call a “framekernel.” Historically kernels have been either monolithic, all in one piece, or employ a microkernel architecture where only bits and pieces load.
A framekernel is similar to a microkernel, but some services are not allowed to use “unsafe” Rust. This minimizes the amount of code that — in theory — could crash memory safety. If you want to know more, there is impressive documentation. You can find the code on GitHub.
Will it work? It is certainly possible. Is it worth it? Time will tell. Our experience is that no matter how many safeguards you put on code, there’s no cure-all that prevents bad programming. Of course, to take the contrary argument, seat belts don’t stop all traffic fatalities, but you could just choose not to have accidents. So we do have seat belts. If Rust can prevent some mistakes or malicious intent, maybe it’s worth it even if it isn’t perfect.
Want to understand Rust? Got ten minutes?
This is what Rust programmers should have done from the beginning. Rewrite it in Rust!
Why? Linux has thousands of man-years put into the development and a massive user base. Anything written from scratch will have a much smaller user base and a tiny fraction of the functionality.
Bringing rust into Linux a bit at a time is a much more sensible approach
Thousands of AAA developers (both hobbyists and corporate) would love to, but as long as Adolf Torvalds is in charge, there’s a zero chance of this happening. For Linux to move on we need to ditch the BDFL model of development and implement direct democratic process. Features could be discussed on a Reddit-like webpage and implemented (or rejected) based on amount of upvotes, instead of arbitrary “my way or the highway” mindset. I suppose some kind of blockchain voting should be used to prevent abuse and clone accounts.
What are you even talking about. Rust is already in the kernel, vetted by adolf torvalds himself.
Yes a lot of drama is going on, sometimes valud, sometimes not…
No matter if written in C, Java or Rust, the fact remains that Linux is not UNIX, it’s something much worse.
≥ there’s no cure-all that prevents bad programming
which these days seems to include AI generated code being used without full understanding of what it does or needs to do. Every protection possible in the OS needed more than ever.
That sounds more like fear of new tools than a measured critique. AI-generated code can be risky if misused—just like human-written code. The key is understanding and testing, not assuming humans do it better by default.
Your comment leans on appeal to fear, a hasty generalization, and an implied slippery slope—none of which make for a strong argument.
and you should learn to read :)
Vibe coding skips debugging. If a human codes they test and debug the code, for example sending every possible value to an integer variable and seeing what breaks a function. In C/C++ syntax hides thijgs which Rust makes sure you declare upfront.
Humans do the full work, whereas using AI code skips several key steps of development. Shortcutting vs full investment in the process. AI use cant be a function of development if it is inhetently a dysfunction. AI is for research, and is less reliable than wikipedia.