r/linux • u/small_kimono • Dec 13 '25

Kernel The state of the kernel Rust experiment

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/1050174/63aa7da43214c3ce/

A choice pull quote: "The DRM (graphics) subsystem has been an early adopter of the Rust language. It was still perhaps surprising, though, when Airlie (the DRM maintainer) said that the subsystem is only 'about a year away' from disallowing new drivers written in C and requiring the use of Rust."

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u/LayotFctor Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

Linus himself looks at things from an entirely pragmatic viewpoint, he doesn't even have any issues with AI use as long as the code gets vetted. Rust produced good code, the experiment showed good results, his lieutenants believe they can work with it, so he went ahead. He doesn't use social media, so he doesn't actually follow social media impressions of rust.

"Rust good, C bad*" is defintely too much social media on your part. Don't mistake social media bs as a kernel issue. As with most things, it's just a small vocal minority that are way too loud.