Rust is the future of Linux
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Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux kernel stable branch maintainer, has publicly endorsed Rust as the future of the Linux kernel. The core argument is not just memory safety, but that Rust's compile-time enforcement of data validation, memory lifetimes, locking rules, and error handling reduces the burden on the kernel's ~150 maintainers who review code from ~5,000 contributors. Greg claims 80% of Linux security vulnerabilities would have been impossible if the code were written in Rust. The current strategy is to write new components and drivers in Rust while keeping existing battle-tested C code intact. There are currently about 113,000 lines of Rust in the kernel. The recommendation for aspiring kernel developers is to learn enough C to understand the existing codebase and enough Rust to contribute to new components.
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Questions this post answers
How many lines of Rust code are currently in the Linux kernel?
There are approximately 113,000 lines of Rust code in the Linux kernel. The adoption strategy is to implement new components — specifically drivers — in Rust, while keeping existing battle-tested C code unchanged. This incremental approach avoids a full rewrite and lets the ecosystem mature gradually. Systems developers tracking Rust's footprint in the Linux kernel follow milestones like these on daily.dev.
Why are Linux kernel maintainers adopting Rust instead of staying with C?
Linux kernel maintainers are adopting Rust primarily to reduce the code review burden. With ~5,000 contributors and only ~150 trusted maintainers, the bottleneck is reviewer time. Rust enforces data validation, memory lifetimes, locking rules, error handling, and type safety at compile time — checks that C reviewers must do manually. Greg Kroah-Hartman also states 80% of Linux security vulnerabilities would have been prevented with Rust. Kernel developers weighing whether to invest in Rust for Linux contributions find the ongoing debate covered on daily.dev.
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