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this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Oof, that video... I don't have enough patience to put up with that sort of thing either. I wonder how plausible a complete Rust fork of the kernel would be.
It's always been this way. Except that it was kernel developers arguing with kernel developers over C code. Now it's relative newcomers arguing with kernel developers over Rust code that the kernel devs don't necessarily care about. Of course it's going to be a mess.
A fork is of course possible, but operating systems are huge and very complex, you really don't want to alienate these folks that have been doing exclusively this for 30 years. It would be hard to keep the OS commercially viable with a smaller group and having to do both the day to day maintenance, plus the rewrite. It's already difficult as it is currently.
Rust will be a huge success in time, long after the current names have lost their impetus. This is not a "grind for 4 years and it's done" project.
And yet the number of people I hear “just switch to Linux!” When the other person has been using Windows for 30 years blows my mind.
Inertia is a hell of a drug.
I wouldn't tell a Windows developer with 30 years experience to just switch to developing for Linux.
Users are different. Most people who have used Windows for 30 years never touch anything outside of the desktop, taskbar and Explorer.
I have been using Windows for 30 years and Linux for 25 years (debian since 99'). I really would not bash (pun intended) windows users so much, there is place for both of them.
It’s insane to find a windows user that doesn’t live in the terminal, it’s just not designed for it
Linux has a gui for everything
That person in the audience was really grinding my gears. Just let the folks you're talking to answer you; no need to keep going on your diatribe when it's based on a false assumption and waste the whole room's time.
let's not lose focus of what's important here, and that is a room full of people hearing my voice and paying attention to me for as long as I manage to hold it
It sounds highly impractical, and it would probably introduce more issues than Rust solves, even if there were enough people with enough free time to do it. Any change must be evolutionary if it's going to be achievable.
NOT a fork of Linux, but Redox is aiming for a Unix-like OS based on Rust – but even with “source compatibility” with Linux/BSD and drivers being in userspace, my guess would be hardware drivers are still going to be a big speed bump
All you need nowadays for a decent Unix-like is compatibility with a handful of Linux softwares and a web browser. Hell, if you could get WINE working on your kernel you could maybe support as many Windows apps/games as Linux for free.
The big issue, as I see it, is performant drivers for a wide range of hardware. That doesn't come easy, but I wonder if that can be addressed in a way I'm too inexperienced to know.
But projects like Redox are a genuine threat to the hegemony of Linux - if memory safety isn't given the true recognition it deserves, projects like Redox serve to be the same disrupting force as Linux once was for UNIX.
Redox also takes some inspiration from Plan9 and https://doc.redox-os.org/book/ch05-00-schemes-resources.html is interesting. Also reading https://drewdevault.com/2022/11/12/In-praise-of-Plan-9.html made me a bit more interested in things trying to be more Plan9-like than Unix-like.
Just fork and port Ext4 to Rust and let the little shit sit in his leaking kiddy pool out back.
There's certainly a history of Unix and Unix-like forks; which is rather simple compared to the Linux distro forks (go right to the big pic).
There is a fully Rust based Unix-like OS out there, it’s called Redox and it’s very cool
It's also a microkernel and intentional not POSIX compliant (but it's close to compliant). I like the project, but it's very experimental on purpose, so we should set our expectations accordingly. I'd love to see it become a success, but it may not be or it may only be successful in a smaller niche than the current Linux ecosystem.
That said, it seems very open to new contributors. I hope more people can help it along.
That's pretty well answered here: http://vger.kernel.org/lkml/#s15-3
Site is unreachable
Why not React?
You should do it. The Linux kernel is a C project. You can't change a 30-year project on a dime. Make your own project with Rust and hookers.