Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] Rust block device driver API and null block driver

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 11:02:23AM -0700, Bart Van Assche wrote:
> On 3/13/24 04:05, Andreas Hindborg wrote:
> > This is the second version of the Rust block device driver API and the Rust null
> > block driver. The context and motivation can be seen in cover letter of the RFC
> > v1 [1]. If more context is required, a talk about this effort was recorded at
> > LPC [2]. I hope to be able to discuss this series at LSF this year [3].
> 
> Memory safety may land in C++ in the near future (see also
> https://herbsutter.com/2024/03/). If memory-safe C++ or memory-safe C
> would be adopted in the kernel, it would allow writing memory-safe
> drivers without having to add complicated bindings between existing C
> code and new Rust code. Please do not take this as personal criticism -
> I appreciate the effort that has been spent on coming up with great
> Rust bindings for the Linux kernel block layer.

You know, this reminds me of when I was at Intel working on NVMe.
We had a product all ready to ship and a manager suggested that we delay
shipping it until the SCSI-over-PCI standard was finished and ratified
so that the same piece of silicon could support both.

Fortunately, said manager was overruled, but it's a great example of
how this kind of FUD can actually work.