Christoph Hellwig steps down from one of his kernel roles following Rust drama

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Hellwig-DMA-Helpers-Removed

by dingi • 1 year ago

61 4 1 year ago

rdtsc• 1 year ago

Linus' reply to Christoph https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/2/20/2066

What's next? Saying that particular drivers can't do DMA, because you don't like that device, and as a DMA maintainer you control who can use the DMA code? That's _literally_ exactly what you are trying to do with the Rust code.

Linus did the right thing eventually and spoke up

buttercraft• 1 year ago

Further down in the thread:

"... Guess what wasn't caught, and then wasn't fixed until -rc3? A bog-standard build error on the esoteric platform called "i386".

...

"Guys and gals - this is normal. You should expect it. Breakage happens. All the time. And that has nothing to do with Rust. It has to do with the fact that we are doing software development.

Ask yourself: how many problems has rust caused you in the last year? I'm claiming that the main problem has been people who have been forthing at the mouth, not the actual rust support.

So next time you want to write an email to complain about rust support: take a look in the mirror.

Is the problem actually the rust code causing you issue, or is the problem between the keyboard and the chair, and you just want to vent?"

an_guy• 1 year ago

Ask yourself: how many problems has rust caused you in the last year?

Isn't rust flag disabled by default? How would one know if there are any problems if most people don't use it?

Besides Hellwig's concerns were legit. When rust becomes a part of kernel either maintainer would have to learn Rust or depend on rust Developers for any breaking changes in C api, assuming there would be someone interested in maintaining rust part of things.

DevelopingElk• 1 year ago

I like how this change was done with no excess drama and that Christoph is continuing to stay involved with Linux. This could be a break for the controversy to cool down and the developers to get back to developing.

Christoph Hellwig steps down from one of his kernel roles following Rust drama

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