Re: [RFC PATCH 00/11] Rust null block driver

[Miguel Ojeda]

On Thu, May 4, 2023 at 9:02 PM Jens Axboe <axboe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> But back to the real question... This is obviously extra burden on
> maintainers, and that needs to be sorted out first. Block drivers in

Regarding maintenance, something we have suggested in similar cases to
other subsystems is that the author gets involved as a maintainer of,
at least, the Rust abstractions/driver (possibly with a different
`MAINTAINERS` entry).

Of course, that is still work for the existing maintainer(s), i.e.
you, since coordination takes time. However, it can also be a nice way
to learn Rust on the side, meanwhile things are getting upstreamed and
discussed (I think Daniel, in Cc, is taking that approach).

And it may also be a way for you to get an extra
maintainer/reviewer/... later on for the C parts, too, even if Rust
does not succeed.

> general are not super security sensitive, as it's mostly privileged code
> and there's not a whole lot of user visibile API. And the stuff we do
> have is reasonably basic. So what's the long term win of having rust
> bindings? This is a legitimate question. I can see a lot of other more
> user exposed subsystems being of higher interest here.

>From the experience of other kernel maintainers/developers that are
making the move, the advantages seem to be well worth it, even
disregarding the security aspect, i.e. on the language side alone.

Cheers,
Miguel