I get it, but switching to Rust places the codebase on an Island I can't easily get to. I am already switching between C++, Swift, Kotlin, and Python on an almost daily basis.
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Memory safety for web fonts
11–20 of 230 posts
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#12It looks like there is an extern C interface... I wonder if it is everything necessary for someone to use it via FFI.
Given that it's being used in a large C++ codebase, I would assume it has everything needed to use it in that API.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#13> Merely keeping up with the stream of issues found by fuzzing costs Google at least 0.25 full time software engineers I like this way of measuring extra work. Is this standard at Google?
I think this means the engineer fuzzes 4 projects?
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#14> Merely keeping up with the stream of issues found by fuzzing costs Google at least 0.25 full time software engineers I like this way of measuring extra work. Is this standard at Google?
Yep, often things are measured in FTE or FTE-equivalent units. It’s not precise of course but is a reasonable shorthand for the amount of work required.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#15This is the true power of Rust that many are missing (like Microsoft with its TypeScript rewrite in Go): a gradual migration towards safety and the capability of being embedded in existing project.
You don't have to do the Big Rewrite™, you can simply migrate components one by one instead.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#16> Merely keeping up with the stream of issues found by fuzzing costs Google at least 0.25 full time software engineers I like this way of measuring extra work. Is this standard at Google?
FTE. Full time equivalent. Mosts costs are denominated in FTE - headcount as well as things like CPU/memory/storage/...
The main economic unit for most engineers is FTE not $.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#17If fresh code in Rust truly reduces the number or severity of CVE in a massively tested and fuzzed C library like this one it will be a major blow to the “carefully written and tested C/C++ is just as safe” perspective. Just need the resources and Rust performance to rewrite them all.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#18I get it, but switching to Rust places the codebase on an Island I can't easily get to. I am already switching between C++, Swift, Kotlin, and Python on an almost daily basis.
Chromium is >35 million lines of code, switching languages all in one go just isn't happening.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not a matter of understanding source code. It is matter of bridging, building, and linking another language with yet another binary layout and interface.
It's an extern c interface. That's not any different than dealing with a c library
That is good to know.
Re: Memory safety for web fonts
#20This is the true power of Rust that many are missing (like Microsoft with its TypeScript rewrite in Go): a gradual migration towards safety and the capability of being embedded in existing project. You don't have to do the Big Rewrite™, you can simply migrate components one by one instead.
In a similar way Rust can be very useful for the hot path in programs written in Python, Ruby, etc. You don't have to throw out and rewrite everything, but because Rust can look like C you can use it easily anywhere C FFI is supported.