I am sorry, but these rust evangelist’s are a bit ridiculous. Rust is I great language. But saying that the Linux kernal not having a future because not everyone will adapt a new programming language is stupid. Does he not realize he is putting alot more technical burden on the remaining maintainers that need to learn a completely different language because he decided the kernel suddenly neeeds rust, thanks I guess?
Nobody gets forced to port kernel stuff to rust. Also the rust compiler takes a lot of burden from maintainers by the safety it enforces.
The whole conflict ist not a technical one, it is entirely human. Some long-term kernel developers don’t like people turning up and replacing the code they wrote. Instead of being proud that the concepts they built get to be elevated in a superior implementation, they throw tantrum and sabotage.
The article itself proves you wrong on this one, my friend. The situation is less simple and more subtle than you’re claiming.
Of course ego is a factor. That’s true for every organization in the world. But there are many other highly relevant factors in play here.
C has not aged well, despite its popularity in many applications. I’m grateful for the incredible body of work that kernel developers have assembled over the decades, but there are some very useful aspects of rust that might help alleviate some of the hurdles that aspiring contributors face. This was not a push by rust evangelists, but an attempt to enable modernization efforts at least for new driver development. If it doesn’t work out, that’s fair enough but I’m grateful for the willingness - especially of Linus - to try something new.
