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The Life of Linux Will Be Shortened by a Misguided Adoption of Rust

Video download link | md5sum 77e0c252bb9df82b7f88b6374b6a0a31 Linux Will Rust Along With Bloat Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: There are currently loads of puff pieces (mindless corporate fluff, no technical considerations) about Rust coming to Linux in the sense that Linux will become dependent on a monstrous shebang controlled by Microsoft proprietary software; a lot of developers very well understand the risk, but it feels like nobody wants to face the mob (for saying out loud that the emperor is naked)

MORE than two years ago we argued that Linus Torvalds was pressured to make a mistake by adopting Rust as part of the kernel's code. Since then Rust has had countless security problems, some emergency-level patches, and many people resigned from the Rust project in protest; some resigned en masse (whole teams). Everything we've been saying about Rust, cautioning about adoption in core projects such as Linux, turned out to be true. That's putting aside censorship issue, training/skill issues, and long-term sustainability aspects.



"Every software project has a limited 'shelf life' and Torvalds -- who in effect betrayed or abandoned his mantra, for the kernel neglects its own principles -- went along with a mistake after years of lobbying (mostly by Google)."The above video is long but unscripted; I've been sitting on it for two days already (pondering whether to do a video or just a long article, textually). I've been seeing lots of puff pieces (we'll link to none), including one just a few hours ago, so the propaganda clearly isn't ending. Nobody expresses any 'dissenting' views about the decision -- that of course would be deemed "hateful"!

The subject has been discussed here for years and there are many rebuttals in IRC (the logs are public), especially the past week's proceedings. But I've attempted to summarise at least some of the issues in the video above.

The conclusion is, Linux shortened its lifetime and made a more compelling case for developers to adopt (and develop around) other, simpler kernels. Every software project has a limited 'shelf life' and Torvalds -- who in effect betrayed or abandoned his mantra, for the kernel neglects its own principles -- went along with a mistake after years of lobbying (mostly by Google).

My scepticism of Rust and criticism of legal and technical aspects have earned me defamatory condemnation by serial trolls salaried by Google. No, they didn't respond to my legal and technical arguments; instead they threw baseless innuendo, insinuating Rust critics are somehow transphobic. Welcome to the new Maoism.

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