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Comment by iurbwdj

One perspective is that Rust appears to be forced into the Linux kernel through harassment and pressure. Instead of Rust being pulled, carefully, organically and friendly, and while taking good care of any significant objections. Objections like, getting the relevant features from unstable Rust into stable Rust, or getting a second compiler like gccrs (Linux kernel uses gcc for C) fully up and running, or ensuring that there is a specification (the specification donated by/from Ferrous Systems, might have significant issues), or prioritizing the kernel higher than Rust.

If I had been enthusiastic about Rust, and wanted to see if it could maybe make sense for Rust to be part of the Linux kernel[0], I would probably had turned my attention to gccrs.

What is then extra strange is that there have been some public hostility against gccrs (WIP Rust compiler for gcc) from the rustc (sole main Rust compiler primarily based on LLVM) camp.

It feels somewhat like a corporate takeover, not something where good and benign technology is most important.

And money is at stake as well, the Rust Foundation has a large focus on fundraising, like how their progenitors at Mozilla/Firefox have or had a large focus on fundraising. And then there are major Rust proponents who openly claim, also here on Hacker News, that software and politics are inherently entwined.

[0]: And also not have it as a strict goal to get Rust into the kernel, for there might be the possibility that Rust was discovered not to be a good fit; and then one could work on that lack of fit after discovery and maybe later make Rust a good fit.

parent iurbwdj 10 months ago

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