this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
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It literally wasn't about Rust specifically though. Christoph literally said it was about anything that was not C, including assembly, C++, brainfuck, or whatever, entering the kernel. Christoph likes Rust. Christoph (rightfully) does not like mixed language codebases for projects as large and important as Linux
Rust is straight up better than C. It's safer and less prone to errors.
It's not feasible to convert the entire Linux codebase at once. So your options are to either have a mixed codebase, or stick with effectively Cobol into 2020.
Rust is great, but you are not thinking from a long-term project perspective. Rust is safer, but Linux needs to be maintainable or it dies.
Based on what you're saying, the only way its going to reasonably be converted to Rust is if someone forks Linux and matches all the changes they're making in C as they happen but converts it all to Rust. Once its all converted and maintainability has been proven, a merge request would need to be made.
I can't fathom how do you mean Rust is not maintainable. If anything for a new programmer C code is much more mind boggling than Rust.
Writing in Rust might make it much more maintainable.
See this is the problem with Rust people, they always misconstrue you saying "mixing two languages together makes a project less maintainable" to mean "Rust is unmaintainable" if Rust is the second language.
This is why the disagreement between Hector and Christoph happened in the first place.
Do better, reddit_sux