Their resignation is already being discussed in another post here from yesterday: One Of The Rust Linux Kernel Maintainers Steps Down - Cites “Nontechnical Nonsense”
…but I think this LWN reporting (from back in June) deserves its own post as it makes it easier for those of us who are not kernel hackers to follow what is going on.
I argue that every © Kernel programmer should (not forced!) familiarize with Rust. Many (but not all) are stubborn and won’t do that. The argumentation and questions brought up in this discussion (in the article) are very interesting and to -my surprise- humane. It’s an interesting read to see how Kernel developers argue and think.
The tone which comes across in the video (linked from the other post I linked to in this post’s description) is unfortunately much less amicable than this article conveys.
Yeah, the video is basically, “I don’t want to change, and you can’t make me. Your ideas are crap, and you should feel bad for daring to suggest that C or the kernel has problems that need solving.”
I find it a bit worse as it is basically “there are more of us so you do mot matter and that is not changing anytime soon”. That is about as far from a technical argument as you can get. It is also basically bullying.
That’s a very good assessment, I think. I was being a bit overly charitable, perhaps.
You sound like some mad scientist experimenting with kernel devs.
I presume you will find it amusing that I’m from Germany.
It’s an important goal to adjust to how kernel devs discuss kernel issues.
Please don’t trivialize the efforts of a smart person in a very underestimated discipline.
They’re not trivializing, just noting that the different things you need to discuss for kernel development compared with other work. It is very different in a lot of ways, and does shape your perspective. I also find it interesting.