this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29210689

Adopting sudo-rs By Default in Ubuntu 25.10

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[–] ferric_carcinization@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I remember there being a bit of talk around a Linux driver compatibility layer for Redox in the future, but I can't find anything about it, so I could be misremembering.

What do you mean by "C interoperability and a linux-like API", exactly?

  1. C is pretty much the standard for FFI, you can use C libraries with Rust and Redox even has their own C standard library implementation.
  2. Linux does not have a stable kernel API as far as I know, only userspace API & ABI compatibility is guaranteed.
[–] patatahooligan@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

C is pretty much the standard for FFI, you can use C libraries with Rust and Redox even has their own C standard library implementation.

Right, but I'm talking specifically about a kernel which supports building parts of it in C. Rust as a language supports this but you also have to set up all your processes (building, testing, doc generation) to work with a mixed code base. To be clear, I don't image that this part is that hard. When I called this a "more ambitious" approach, I was mostly referring to the effort of maintaining forks of linux drivers and API compatibility.

Linux does not have a stable kernel API as far as I know, only userspace API & ABI compatibility is guaranteed.

Ugh, I forgot about that. I wonder how much effort it would be to keep up with the linux API changes. I guess it depends on how many linux drivers you would use, since you don't need 100% API compatibility. You only need whatever is used by the drivers you care about.