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Redox OS - an OS built entirely out of Rust (www.redox-os.org)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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This isn't Linux, but Linux-like. Its a microkernel built from the rust programming language. Its still experimental, but I think it has great potential. It has a GUI desktop, but the compiler isn't quite fully working yet.

Has anyone used this before? What was your experience with it?

Note: If this is inappropriate since this isn't technically Linux, mods please take down.

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[–] 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

It’s a system programming language that isn’t C or C++.

Edit to add: How did Go get on that page? That’s a stretch.

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  • [+] -2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)
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  • [–] 45 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
    1. breaks compatibility
    2. breaks compatibility
    3. breaks compatibility
    4. hard to add without breaking compatibility

    Then we arrive at Rust as a natural outcome.

    And it's of course possible to migrate to Rust from C or C++ progressively, fish has almost got it done.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Did fish migrate progressively tho? I thought they swap out everything at once as soon as the rewrite is ready

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    (notice: I am not a Rust or C/C++ expert)

    Doing all that is creating a completely separate programming language from C. Rust is that programming language.

    Fix shitty imports

    Rust does that with modules and crates.

    Improve syntax rule

    You mean having consistent/universal style guidelines? Rust pretty much has that with rustfmt.

    Improve memory management

    Safe Rust is memory safe (using things like the borrow checker), and Unsafe Rust is (usually?) separated using the unsafe keyword.

    Although Unsafe Rust seems to be quite a mess, idk haven't tried it

    Other new misc features

    Rust has macros, iterators, lambdas, etc. C doesn't have those. C++ probably has those but in a really weird C++ way.

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  • [+] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'd say no. Programming safely requires non-trivial transformation in code and a radical change in style, which afaik cannot be easily done automated.

    Do you think that there's any chance to convert from this to this? It requires understanding of the algorithm and a thorough rewrite. Automated tools can only generate the former one because it must not change C's crooked semantics.

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  • [+] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    I think there's no need to stick with one particular language. It benefits to learn more languages and bring the "good parts" of their design into your code whatever you are writing it in.

    Btw It happens that I've learned a bit of RISC-V, with Rust.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Idk what the iso fuck up and I don't code enough to appreciate whatever technical debt exists in either so I am probably sound like an idiot but...

    Since I do infosec, the glaring issue for me is not being memory safe.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    C and C++ can't be fixed retroactively because old code must remain compatible.

    If you're going to implement your own C dialect, you may as well just write a new language.

    For C++ that's Rust, for C that's probably Zig (Zig will just let you import existing C files, which helps with porting). Carbon and experimental languages like Jakt may also work, it all depends on what your priorities are.

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