Is it time to rewrite the operating system in Rust? [slides]

The slide deck comes to this conclusion, at least for now. Rather, he discusses a hybrid approach of writing certain modules / drivers of a C-based kernel in Rust so it can be done a little bit at a time.

Re: Is it time to rewrite the operating system in Rust? [slides]

#7

Post by keir-rex » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

jbb67 wrote: post #5

no.

I was expecting to see this type of response. I don't program at low levels but it seems like this would be the responding answer. Kernel programmers would be using something else if that's what they wanted to use. Decades of experience and hard learnt lessons down the drain.

Re: Is it time to rewrite the operating system in Rust? [slides]

#8

Post by keir-rex » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 1:44 PM UTC

keir-rex wrote: post #7

jbb67 wrote: post #5

no.

I was expecting to see this type of response. I don't program at low levels but it seems like this would be the responding answer. Kernel programmers would be using something else if that's what they wanted to use. Decades of experience and hard learnt lessons down the drain.

Also, if you can abstract away at a sufficiently low level why not just do it in C where there's already a generation of experience and familiarity?

Re: Is it time to rewrite the operating system in Rust? [slides]

#9

Post by _urga » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

I think Zig would be better suited.

See: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/wiki/Why-Zig-When-There-is-Al...

Re: Is it time to rewrite the operating system in Rust? [slides]

#10

Post by masklinn » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

keir-rex wrote: post #7

jbb67 wrote: post #5

no.

I was expecting to see this type of response. I don't program at low levels but it seems like this would be the responding answer. Kernel programmers would be using something else if that's what they wanted to use. Decades of experience and hard learnt lessons down the drain.

The entire point of the presentation is to discuss these issues, and recommend rust for more ancillary tasks (modules/drivers, firmware, utilities) than the kernel itself.

> Kernel programmers would be using something else if that's what they wanted to use.

The vast majority of the languages having arisen in the last 40 or so years are completely unsuitable for kernel development, so not necessarily.