Launching Rust Cloud Native

https://nickgerace.dev/post/launching-rust-cloud-native

by nickgerace • 5 years ago

54 32 5 years ago

ctvo2• 5 years ago

I'm not too bright, so apologies in advance. What is this? And why do people need to care?

You made a new Github organization to ... do what? Are you launching a new CloudNative project in Rust? It's an umbrella group with a cute logo and it doesn't do or own anything? But there's a launch? My head is exploding.

wyldfire• 5 years ago

The page seems pretty clear about the goals. Based on the https://github.com/rust-embedded group (which appears to curate/incubate some repos on that theme), there's a new group focused on using rust in the cloud.

ctvo2• 5 years ago

I understand they're attempting to emulate rust-embedded. Perhaps launch this when you have a repo with code to share? People care about rust-embedded because of the quality of the projects under the umbrella. Would anyone care if rust-embedded had only a vague wiki page and nothing else to offer?

fnord77• 5 years ago

looks like some people just trying to capitalize on rust.

there's nothing here.

querez3• 5 years ago

This is a very confusing announcement of..... what exactly? A github repo hosting the blog that the announcement was posted on!

There isn't anything of substance here, as far as I can tell. While the whole thing "looks" official and has a very official name, there is nothing of substance there. Some of the text is incoherent, telling us that the author learned some Rust as a break from university (good for him!). Some parts of the text use "we" language, other parts "I" language. But nothing really explains what this is about or why anyone should care, what the actual deliverables of this nebulous "organization" will be, who its participants are (other than blog-author-dude), how much industry support it has, or why this will have any impact. But on the flipside, the mission statement is a clearly defined "We want to do what you want to do" (actual quote from the page), and there is a whole GitHub repo hosting the logo of the project, so clearly this is going places.

tux3• 5 years ago

It seems they're just planting a flagpole, since no one else had done it yet, and calling for people who are interested to regroup under that label.

Why not. Sometimes it really just takes a name and a place for people who have common goals to work together.

shred45• 5 years ago

What confuses me is that I know for a fact that several of those projects have or will be joining the CNCF, so I’m not sure they are in need of a governing body.

nickgerace8• 5 years ago

I've addressed this in more detail in response to the top comment, but this is exactly correct.

I'll admit, I could have expressed the intent more clearly, but there's been gridlock here, so I created the organization with the intent of doing _something_.

grumblenum• 5 years ago

The HN server or moderators promote literally anything with “Rust” in the title to the front page. Yes, Neo, you’re in the Matrix.

staticassertion2• 5 years ago

I don't understand, this seems fairly straightforward. It's an announcement for a group that is forming and why that group is forming.

It's even mentioned that the launch is largely symbolic, as the work is already open source, but that this is a sort of "call to arms".

Seems pretty easy to understand.

querez3• 5 years ago

I disagree. A typical announcement says WHO does WHAT and HOW, maybe even WHY in succinct, clear language. However, this post grinds my gears in all the wrong ways. The proper way to do what that guy set out to do would've been to write an RFC to some mailing list (or some Rust forum/social channel) and collectively build up a group. But announcing a group before the group's actually been formed is putting the cart before the horse. Don't get me wrong, I think it's laudable that someone started this effort, but it seems to me that it's being done/communicated in a fairly naive/inexperienced fashion. I'm sure they'll learn as they go along, and I probably am being way to harsh on people who actually are trying to do something good for the community.

nickgerace8• 5 years ago

This is fair comment!

Thought I would add some clarity here: many comments here are correct in that the announcement is largely symbolic. The substance is minimal because this is a "call to arms" more than anything. Since there's been some gridlock in creating a central place for Rust Cloud Native _anything_, I mainly just wanted to start _something_.

I can also see how the exchange of "I" and "we" was confusing. I talked to several folks about how to start this, so I did not want to claim sole ownership of ideas.

This was created entirely with volunteer time, and would ideally not have its course determined from a BDFL (me, in this case). If people want a Discord, a Zoom meetups, events hosted, etc., we will do that. I do not want to burn out by creating a bunch of low quality community locations prematurely.

These intentions could have be articulated more clearly, and I may edit the announcement post to do so. Thank you.

Twirrim• 5 years ago

The substance is minimal because this is a "call to arms" more than anything

To do what, exactly? You point to a blurb from CNCF, but then don't say how Rust fits in to it at all. It's really not clear what the goals actually are, beyond coming across as buzzword bingo. I'm sure that's not your intent.

querez3• 5 years ago

Like I said in a comment further down below, I think my initial reaction and post were way too harsh (i.e., not constructive and cynical), sorry for that. It's great that you're taking the initiative and trying to build something, and I wish you all the best with it.

To be more constructive: I personally feel that such efforts have an easier way of getting of the ground if you first build consensus with a smaller group in private. Ideally this would include some of the influential people in this sphere, (devs of larger projects in the space, cloud providers, famous rustaceans, ...). Otherwise the initiative does not have a lot of credibility (because it hinges on the words of someone most people will not have heard of).

I find some of the wording weird in many places:

1) It gives the impression that this is an already established organization, when in fact it is merely a call to action.

2) You never actually say what you are trying to do. Even after all of this, I'm still not sure what you want to create. A community? A main code repository? A specific technical solution? You say you want to "enable the usage of Rust in the cloud". But that's super vague. I can use Rust in the cloud today already, so what are you _really_ after? And _how_ are you going to achieve that?

3) Putting the Code of Conduct front and center in your "approach" is just super weird.It's great that you have one, but it should ultimately just be a footnote. If someone asks you "how do you play hockey?", you don't answer: "well, there are strict rules about fouls, and if you commit one, you'll have to go on a time-out". Yes, there are some rules you'll need to follow, but that's not the main point of the game.

csomar• 5 years ago

/self-plug/

If you are looking for something that works, today: There is rust-musl-builder: https://hub.docker.com/r/ekidd/rust-musl-builder/

While I didn't make rust-musl-builder, I make and (though a bit busy lately) maintain rust-starter (https://github.com/rust-starter/rust-starter)

Look inside the docker directory, and in the Just file. You can generate an alpine linux docker image/container that has only your program and any dependencies statically linked.

This should, in theory, run your application in any cloud or linux server that has Docker support. Your image should also be very small (a few dozen megabytes at most).

StevePerkins• 5 years ago

Haha... if this were about literally ANYTHING other than Rust, then this blogspam wouldn't be on the front page of Hacker News at all.

I've tinkered with the language. It has some interesting ideas. More power to its fans. But sheesh, you folks get into "vegan" or "CrossFit" territory sometimes.

echelon• 5 years ago

you folks are getting into "vegan" or "CrossFit" territory with this thing.

It's more like CRISPR for our industry. Or the invention of the seat belt. Safe and modern, when you typically had to choose just one. You wouldn't go calling those seat belt people crazy, would you?

It also comes at a time where the scripting, dynamic types, and bad package managers are coming under increased scrutiny. The culmination of so many headwinds meets a language that addresses all of the problems.

Rust should eat Python, Ruby, and Javascript too. It's not just coming for C++'s lunch.

darksaints• 5 years ago

I totally understand the annoyance with cult-like behavior in the tech industry...and even as a fan of Rust, I can't help but see how obnoxious the fandom can be.

But I would much rather that cults form around ideas like memory safety in low-level languages than things like Elon Musk or Apple...which is literally everywhere on HN. Almost any postitive headline about either makes the front page in like 10 seconds, and almost any negative headline gets flagged and dumped off the front page (and the same goes for comments in their respective threads). The teeny bopper-like obsession with Rust is relatively benign in comparison.

pjmlp2• 5 years ago

Many keep trying since 1950's, unfortunely it took a free beer OS to spoil it, and now it is a quixotic battle of multiple generations to come, to bring it back into course.

Launching Rust Cloud Native

Related Stories