Rust in the Linux kernel is now considered a permanent fixture, and the 'experimental' tag has been removed.
The Linux kernel, written in C, is no longer experimental. The 'experimental' tag has been removed after a discussion at the Maintainers Summit.
The (successful) end of the kernel Rust experiment [LWN.net]
Rust in the kernel is no longer experimental | Hacker News
The Linux kernel is written in C, which means it is constantly plagued by memory-related bugs. Since 2020, the Rust for Linux project has been underway, which aims to enable the use of the memory-safe programming language Rust within the kernel.
Rust for Linux
https://rust-for-linux.com/
The Linux community is not a monolithic one, and there were strong opinions against the introduction of Rust, which led to conflicts between those in favor of Rust and those opposed to its adoption.
For example, Christoph Helwig, a kernel maintainer who is opposed to Rust's adoption, rejected the Rust-infused code proposed by Rust advocates, stating, 'If we don't want a cross-language codebase to make Linux unmaintainable, we should deal with this cancer in the driver, not in the core subsystems. (To counter the controversy, the cancer is the cross-language codebase, not Rust itself.)'
Mixing Rust and C in Linux likened to cancer by maintainer • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/mixing_rust_and_c_linux/
Helwig also said, 'The maintainability of the kernel as an integrated project decreases dramatically every time another language creeps in. The only reason Linux has survived this long is because it has no internal boundaries, and adding another language is reaching its limits. You may not like my answer, but I will do everything I can to prevent it. It's not because I hate Rust. Rust is not my favorite language, but it is certainly one of the best new languages and I encourage its use in suitable new projects. But I would never want Rust anywhere near the huge C codebase I have to maintain.'
If Linus Torvalds had not accepted the pull request from Rust proponents, accepting Helwig's argument, Rust for Linux would effectively be over, according to the news site The Register.
In fact, in September 2024, Wedson Almeida Filho, a Microsoft software engineer who worked on Rust for Linux, left Rust for Linux, calling it 'non-technical nonsense.'
However, Torvalds took a position in principle in favor of introducing Rust, and ultimately, at the Maintainers Summit held in December 2025, it was agreed that 'Rust is no longer experimental, it is core to the kernel, and it is established,' and the 'experimental' tag was removed.
Linux information site LWN.net offered congratulations to the Rust for Linux team: 'Congratulations to everyone on the Rust for Linux team.'
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in Software, Posted by logc_nt