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Comment by mmooss

10 months ago

Who would use a kernel that is essentially the mainline kernel with more Rust? Would Debian or Red Hat use it? Maybe some very hard-core Rust hobbyists, but otherwise, why use the Rustier kernel?

But if they could demonstrate significant improvements in security and stability, then they would have something to say. Maybe the plan should be to rewrite a component that the mainline maintainers wouldn't agree to - something important with a significant affect on security and stability. Yes, it's a risk, but if their claims for Rust are true, then it shouldn't be a problem. If Rust doesn't offer a major improvement then it isn't worth the effort anyway. Put their money (or time) where their mouth is.

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mmooss

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steveklabnik  10 months ago

There are drivers that exist only in Rust, so any distro that wants to support that hardware will. Like the Apple A3 silicon graphics driver. Iirc red hat and nvidia are also working on some Rust based drivers.

  • mmooss  10 months ago

    Do the Rust drivers provide significant benefits over C equivalents (or over typical C drivers), enough to make it worth switching?

    Rust may have to really prove itself with results. And why shouldn't it?