It is one of the most popular and trendy programming languages ​​of recent times, but things go even further: Rust will soon be used in the Linux kernel as well.

This was even expressed by Linus Torvalds, the creator and head of the development of Linux, and recently, Rust integration in next major kernel releaseLinux will be 5.20.

Rust keeps gaining integers

For the last three decades Linux has been primarily based on the C programming language, but in recent years we have seen how Rust has gained popularity and become a “second language” option.

This language was created in 2012 and, as its creator says, has been saved, “many good ideas known and loved in other languagesit was not used in widely used languages ​​or integrated into languages ​​with very poor memory models”.

Linus Torvalds admitted more than a year ago that I am interested in this project but warned that Rust support on Linux is “not good yet”. At the time 5.14 was talking about its possible inclusion in the kernel, but in the end this integration did not happen.

Now everything seems readyand at the Open Source Summit event held in Texas a few days ago, Torvalds said, “I’d love to see the addition of Rust infrastructure begin in the next release, but we’ll see.”

Linux kernel developers are preparing version 5.19, which won’t be in Rust, for its likely August release, and the rate of new kernel releases is around 10 weeks, so maybe finally let’s see Rust in Linux kernel 5.20.

Why is Rust on Linux good news?

to Linux it went very well With the C language all these years, why introduce a second language now? Doesn’t that complicate things?

The truth is, Rust is an important signature for Linux as it facilitates secure software development. As our colleagues from Genbeta explain, Rust provides excellent memory management is a big pillar of its use, but adds a modern syntax to it.

The developers agree with this assessment. Samartha Chandrashekar, administrator of Amazon Web Services, said that this language “helps ensure thread safety and prevent memory-related errorslike buffer overflows that could lead to security vulnerabilities.” Torvalds noted that “there are real technical reasons, such as memory security and why getting Rust into the kernel is a good thing.”

While Rust may seem like part of the Linux kernel, the C language will continue to be the absolute hero. The first distribution will be more symbolic than anything else.and it will simply set up Rust so that developers can use it in various components in later versions of the Linux kernel.

Among these components are some APIs, support for specific architectures, and ABIs (Application Binary Interfaces) that allow to guarantee compatibility between Rust and C. The Linux kernel continues to evolve and now it will be with Rust’s help.