Re: [TECH TOPIC] Rust for Linux

Linus Walleij
2021-07-06T18:09:14Z

On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 12:20 PM James Bottomley
<James.Bottomley@hansenpartnership.com> wrote:

> 3. Less review: The lack of kernel programmers understanding rust
> hampers reviewing. Since most of our CVE type problems are usually
> programming mistakes nowadays, the lack of review could contribute to
> an increase in programming fault type bugs which aren't forbidden by
> the safer memory model.

The rationale not stated explicitly by the Rust enthusiasts is based
on the assumption that the language has a broad uptake and that
the crowd of developers embracing Rust will increase over time,
and especially that new young, fresh developers will know Rust
better than C.

If over time this becomes (by assumption) an increasing crowd of
Rust-interested developers who think C is primitive and last years
news and do not want to work with it, then the assumption is true.

This has limited evidence but is I think based on StackOverflow
surveys of "most loved language" and such. Overall the people
promoting Rust believe in this and they also apparently feel a strong
sense of belonging wrt the language.

I think it is a fair reason. Any push into any new technology needs to
be driven by belief and enthusiasm, i.e. emotions. That's fine. Such
was Unix and C, and such was Linux, too. Not everything is rational.

Yours,
Linus Walleij