Good luck getting it in the mainline kernel though...

You're not going to get a C++ kernel module in mainline either.

I'd be very curious to hear Linus' thoughts on Rust.

Has anyone posted a flippant request on the kernel dev list to support kernel modules written in Rust?

Be sure to mention:

* how safe Rust is

* how unsafe C is

* reiterate that "this is the 21st century, people"

I hate to link to Quora, but I’m on mobile so I apologize in advance. The only time I’m aware of Linus commenting on Rust is https://www.quora.com/What-does-Linus-Torvalds-think-of-Rust

I would hope that nobody trolls the LKML like that. Not even Rust people think that the kernel should adopt Rust.

Thanks for that link-- that's about as good a compliment as I can imagine Linus giving another programming language. :)

By that reasoning C is the only language you can use to write kernel modules.

Which is not a very interesting or productive reasoning when discussing the actual merits and capabilities of a programming language.

For all practical purposes C is the only language that is used to write kernel modules on Linux.

I like Rust a lot actually, but kernel modules aren't a good use case for it.

Edit: the_grue actually has an interesting criticism of Rust, which is that a lot of existing systems problems-- problems that Rust would be well suited for--are already addressed with large C/C++ codebases. Since it's unlikely you're going to replace Linux, postgres, nginx, etc. it is interesting to ask what systems applications Rust can be used for now, without requiring people to rewrite their applications in Rust or allow Rust code to be mixed in with existing C/C++ code.

I definitely see why you couldn't replace linux or postgres with rust rewrites anytime soon, but nginx?

Nginx seems totally probable.

> I like Rust a lot actually, but kernel modules aren't a good use case for it.

If we're talking about kernel modules in general, I'd have to disagree. I think it's a perfect language for kernel, as long it's all written in Rust. I only wanted to point out the practical impossibility of integration with existing infrastructure, such as Linux kernel, which is written entirely in C.

In general, Rust can work great with C projects. This is, after all, part of what it was originally created for: to replace bits of Firefox (which is C++, but that makes it harder, not easier).

That said, the kernel has special requirements; I'd never advocate such a thing for Linux, specifically.

I meant Linux kernel modules in particular. Rust seems fine for the kernel in general.