– Sep 3, 2024 7:38 pm UTC
The Linux kernel is not a place to work if you’re not ready for some, shall we say, spirited argument. Still, one key developer in the project to expand Rust’s place inside the largely C-based kernel feels the “nontechnical nonsense” is too much, so he’s retiring.
Wedson Almeida Filho, a leader in the Rust for Linux project, wrote to the Linux kernel mailing list last week to remove himself as the project’s maintainer. “After almost 4 years, I find myself lacking the energy and enthusiasm I once had to respond to some of the nontechnical nonsense, so it’s best to leave it up to those who still have it in them,” Filho wrote. While thanking his teammates, he noted that he believed the future of kernels “is with memory-safe languages,” such as Rust. “I am no visionary but if Linux doesn’t internalize this, I’m afraid some other kernel will do to it what it did to Unix,” Filho wrote.
Filho also left a “sample for context,” a link to a moment during a Linux conference talk in which an off-camera voice, identified by Filho in a Register interview as kernel maintainer Ted Ts’o, emphatically interjects: “Here’s the thing: you’re not going to force all of us to learn Rust.” In the context of Filho’s request that Linux’s file system implement Rust bindings, Ts’o says that while he knows he must fix all the C code for any change he makes, he cannot or will not fix the Rust bindings that may be affected.
Asahi Lina, a key developer for the Asahi Linux project, recently expressed her disillusionment on Mastodon, sharing her understanding of the frustrations encountered by fellow programmers. Her work involves tackling memory safety issues in the implementation of Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) scheduler abstractions. Despite trying to implement minor fixes to enhance the robustness of the C code, her attempts were thwarted by a maintainer. She pointed out that faults in the DRM scheduler’s C code were the sole reasons for kernel panics in her Apple GPU driver, emphasizing, “Because I wrote it in Rust.”
Lina lamented the apparent indifference of some Linux kernel maintainers towards the quality, stability, and security of future code. This lack of care from maintainers who cling to traditional C code is disheartening and counterproductive to the advancement of Linux, she remarked.
Meanwhile, Drew DeVault, the initiator of SourceHut, commented on the tricky integration of Rust into the Linux Kernel. He highlighted that while the kernel could potentially benefit from dynamic and eager contributions from new developers, the actual scenario resembles a complex battleground where consensus is notoriously hard to achieve. DeVault described this scenario as every subsystem being a private domain under the control of individual maintainers, making the incorporation of Rust not just a coding challenge but predominantly a political one.
DeVault advised that instead of enduring the strenuous political environment of the kernel’s community, Rust developers might find it more productive to develop a Linux-compatible kernel from the ground up. This approach might circumvent the intense politics of the Linux Kernel Mailing List and aid in realizing the goal of integrating Rust into kernel programming.
“I was expecting [Rust] updates to be faster, but part of the problem is that old-time kernel developers are used to C and don’t know Rust,” Torvalds said. “They’re not exactly excited about having to learn a new language that is, in some respects, very different. So there’s been some pushback on Rust.” Torvalds added, however, that “another reason has been the Rust infrastructure itself has not been super stable.”
The Linux kernel is a high-stakes project in which hundreds or thousands of developers have a stake; conflict is perhaps inevitable. Time will tell how long C will remain the primary way of coding for, and thinking about, such a large yet always-moving, codebase.
Ars has reached out to both Filho and Ts’o for comment and will update this post with response.
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