{"id":58275,"date":"2025-03-10T07:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T07:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/strap-in-get-ready-for-more-rust-drivers-in-linux-kernel\/"},"modified":"2025-03-10T07:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T07:20:10","slug":"strap-in-get-ready-for-more-rust-drivers-in-linux-kernel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/strap-in-get-ready-for-more-rust-drivers-in-linux-kernel\/","title":{"rendered":"Strap in, get ready for more Rust drivers in Linux kernel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rust is alive and well in the Linux kernel and is expected to translate into noticeable benefits shortly, though its integration with the largely C-oriented codebase still looks uneasy.<\/p>\n

In a hopeful coda to the recent maintainer drama<\/a> that raised questions about the willingness of Linux maintainers to accommodate Rust code, Josh Aas, who oversees the Internet Security Research Group’s Prossimo memory-safety project, late last week hailed<\/a> Miguel Ojeda’s work to advance memory safety in the kernel without mentioning the programming language schism.<\/p>\n

“While our goal was never to rewrite the entire kernel in Rust, we are glad to see growing acceptance of Rust’s benefits in various subsystems,” said Aas. “Today, multiple companies have full time engineers dedicated to working on Rust in the Linux kernel.”<\/p>\n

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Our goal was never to rewrite the entire kernel in Rust …<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since at least September last year, when Microsoft software engineer Wedson Almeida Filho left the Rust for Linux project citing “non-technical nonsense,” it’s been clear that acceptance had limits. Tensions between Rust and C kernel contributors flared again in January over concerns about the challenges of maintaining a mixed language codebase \u2013 likened to cancer<\/a> by one maintainer. Urged to intervene, Linux creator Linux Torvalds did so, making his annoyance known to both<\/a> parties<\/a> and prompting their departures as Linux maintainers.<\/p>\n

Amid all that, Ojeda, who helms the Rust for Linux project, published a “Rust kernel policy<\/a>” as a way to clarify that those contributing Rust code to the Linux kernel should stay the course and to underscore that Linux leaders still support<\/a> the initiative.<\/p>\n