this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
430 points (97.4% liked)
Linux
48287 readers
627 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I finally watched the talk today and that wasn't what I thought he meant. What I thought he was getting at was that the rust parts of the kernel interact with lots of other modules written by people who don't know rust. When those C modules change their semantics in ways that break the rust code, they can't go fix it because they don't know rust. In fact, whenever they make a change, they don't even know if they broke some rust module, because they don't understand the rust code well enough. And this is something that everyone is going to have to live with for the foreseeable future, because you can't force all those other kernel hackers to learn rust.
If you are that good in C(pp), I guess understanding rust code of a module is not sooo hard.. I mean, I learned what I know about C from reading stuff in the Kernel that made my embedded Linux project not working.
But I have yet to read rust.
It's a whole different ballgame. I've written a good amount of C and C++ in my day. I've been learning Rust for a year or so now. Switching between allocating your own memory and managing it, and the concept of "Ownership" https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch04-01-what-is-ownership.html is just something many devs set in their ways aren't willing to do.
I understand where they're coming from, I've gone through massive refactors with new tech in my career. I think this approach needs to be more methodical and cautious than it is, but I don't think they are correct in the end result. I think a memory-safe language is the way to go, and it needs to happen.
This to me is a classic software project with no manager and a bunch of devs arguing internally with no clear external goals. There needs to be definitive goals set over a timeline. If someone doesn't agree after a consensus is reached they can leave the project. But as of now I think as others have said this is 80% infighting, 20% actual work that's happening.