Linux Gets Rusted, Roasted
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Rust in the Linux Kernel - The New Stack
Not that long ago, the idea that another major language would be supported in the Linux kernel would have been laughable. Linux was C’s poster child. Sure, there have been efforts to introduce other languages into the kernel, notably C++. They failed. Badly. As Linux’s creator Linus Torvalds once said, “C++ is a horrible language.” So, why is Torvalds now welcoming Rust into the kernel? Listen, my friend, and I’ll tell you.
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Linux 6.1: Rust to hit mainline kernel • The Register
The first big change for the forthcoming Linux kernel 6.1 is in… and it's a big one.
Kees Cook made the pull request and Linus Torvalds accepted it earlier this week, meaning that Linux 6.1 will soon have direct support for Rust code, as teased earlier this week. The initial support is in the region of 12-and-a-half thousand lines of code.
No, this doesn't mean that the kernel will start to be rewritten in Rust. There are already other Rust operating system kernels in development, such as Redox OS, and Linux is not, practically speaking, going to become one of them.
What's interesting is that it's Rust that has made it. There are multiple languages vying to be successors to C, with C-like syntax but which extend C with new features. C++ was one of the first, which adds object oriented programming to C.
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Basic Rust Support Merged For Upcoming Linux 6.1