Hector Martin (@marcan@treehouse.systems)
social.treehouse.systems
Behold, a Linux maintainer openly admitting to attempting to sabotage the entire Rust for Linux project: https://lwn.net/ml/all/20250131075751.GA16720@lst.de/ **Edit for the Reddit peanut gallery: The reason this is sabotaging the entire R4L project is that DMA abstractions are critical for 99% of drivers, and without them, the R4L project is dead in its tracks. Christoph is fundamentally opposed to the goals and technical plan behind R4L, and offers no viable technical alternatives. If his demands are met, the R4L project is effectively dead with no way out, and that is what he wants. This is the dictionary definition of sabotage.** The good news is this doesn't affect drm/asahi, our GPU driver. The bad news is it does affect all the *other* drivers we're (re)writing in Rust, two so far with a third one coming. Another choice quote, calling R4L "cancer": https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250128092334.GA28548@lst.de/ (**R4L is the "cross-language codebase" he mentions, it's the whole point of R4L, and what he calls cancer. He's clarifying Rust itself isn't cancer, R4L is. Which is just as bad.**) Personally, I would consider this grounds for removal of Christoph from the Linux project on Code of Conduct violation grounds, but sadly I doubt much will happen other than draining a lot of people's energy and will to continue the project until Linus says "fuck you" or something. As for how to move forward, if I were one of the Rust maintainers, I would just merge the patch (which does *not* touch code formally maintained by the dissenter). Either Linus takes the pull, and whatever Christoph says is irrelevant, or he doesn't, and R4L dies. Everything else is a waste of everyone's time and energy. Edit: Sent in my 2 cents: https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/2b9b75d1-eb8e-494a-b05f-59f75c92e6ae@marcan.st/T/#m1944b6d485070970e359bbc7baa71b04c86a30af

Behold, a Linux maintainer openly admitting to attempting to sabotage the entire Rust for Linux project:

https://lwn.net/ml/all/20250131075751.GA16720@lst.de/

The good news is this doesn’t affect drm/asahi, our GPU driver. The bad news is it does affect all the other drivers we’re (re)writing in Rust, two so far with a third one coming.

Another choice quote, calling R4L “cancer”: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250128092334.GA28548@lst.de/

Personally, I would consider this grounds for removal of Christoph from the Linux project on Code of Conduct violation grounds, but sadly I doubt much will happen other than draining a lot of people’s energy and will to continue the project until Linus says “fuck you” or something.

As for how to move forward, if I were one of the Rust maintainers, I would just merge the patch (which does not touch code formally maintained by the dissenter). Either Linus takes the pull, and whatever Christoph says is irrelevant, or he doesn’t, and R4L dies. Everything else is a waste of everyone’s time and energy.

Edit: Sent in my 2 cents: https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/2b9b75d1-eb8e-494a-b05f-59f75c92e6ae@marcan.st/T/#m1944b6d485070970e359bbc7baa71b04c86a30af

  • BatmanAoD@programming.dev
    101·
    10 hours ago

    Christoph Hellwig isn’t criticizing Rust the language, and Hector Martin isn’t claiming that he is. This is about a project, Rust for Linux, that has been endorsed by both Linus and GKH, and one maintainer personally attempting to stop it from moving forward.

    • FizzyOrange@programming.dev
      5·
      9 hours ago

      He did call it a “shiny language of the day”. That’s criticism. He’s saying the popularity of Rust is due to temporary hype rather than because it is intrinsically good.

      • BatmanAoD@programming.dev
        2·
        2 hours ago

        Eh, he also said “While not my favourite language it’s definitively one of the best new ones and I encourage people to use it for new projects where it fits.”