The push to integrate Rust into the Linux kernel has hit a major obstacle, with several key maintainers resigning due to frustrations with the process. This high-profile exodus underscores the deep cultural and technical challenges of modernizing such a foundational C-based project.
While this friction is a setback for Rust in Linux, it's also fueling the creation of entirely new, Rust-native operating systems. Is this a temporary hurdle, or does it signal a larger shift where Rust's OS future lies in projects built from the ground up?
In today’s Rust recap:
> Key Linux maintainers resign over Rust integration
> Ferrocene achieves a major safety certification for libcore
> LibreOffice adopts Rust for building safer extensions
> Asciinema's v3.0 rewrite delivers a single binary and live streaming
Kernel in Crisis?
The Recap: Several key maintainers for the Linux and Asahi Linux projects have resigned, citing frustrations with the ongoing effort to integrate Rust. The departures are fueling a broader conversation about community dynamics and the rise of alternative, Rust-based operating systems.
Unpacked:
The exodus includes high-profile developers like Wedson Almeida Filho, the Rust kernel maintainer, and Hector Martin, the founder of Asahi Linux.
This friction is driving experienced kernel developers to explore new operating systems built from the ground up with Rust's safety principles.
One notable project, Asterinas, is a Linux ABI-compatible OS being developed with a novel framekernel architecture that separates safe and unsafe code within the kernel itself.
Bottom line: These high-profile departures underscore the cultural and technical challenges of integrating a safety-first language into a legacy C-based monolith. The resulting exodus of talent is now seeding a new generation of operating systems designed around Rust's core principles from day one.
Rust Gets Major Safety Certification
The Recap: Ferrocene announced a major update that a significant subset of Rust's libcore is in the final stages of qualification for a key functional safety standard, opening doors for its use in mission-critical systems.
Unpacked:
The certification is for the IEC 61508 SIL 2 standard, a critical benchmark for functional safety in electrical and electronic systems for industrial applications.
Ferrous Systems has already submitted the qualification documents and is just waiting on the all-clear from its auditors for the final approval.
This qualified
libcoresubset will be included in the upcoming Ferrocene 25.08 release, with the team sharing more details at OxidizeConf.
Bottom line: This official certification removes a significant barrier for companies looking to adopt Rust in regulated industries like automotive and industrial automation. It provides external validation of Rust's safety promises, making it a more compelling choice for building reliable systems software.
LibreOffice Adopts Rust for Extensions
The Recap: LibreOffice is embracing Rust's safety and performance by merging "Rustmaker" into its upcoming 26.2 release. The new tool enables developers to build extensions for the popular open-source office suite using Rust.
Unpacked:
The new Rustmaker tool generates code to integrate Rust with LibreOffice’s Universal Network Objects (UNO) component model.
This move allows developers to write extensions without the memory-safety pitfalls of C++, leading to more robust, crash-resistant plugins for the office suite.
Developers can start experimenting with this feature in the LibreOffice 26.2 development branch using the new
--enable-rust-unobuild option.
Bottom line: LibreOffice's adoption of Rust is a strong signal of the language's growing influence in established C++ ecosystems. This integration opens the door for a new generation of developers to build safer, higher-performance extensions for millions of users.
A Classic Tool, Reborn in Rust
The Recap: The popular terminal recorder, asciinema, has released version 3.0, a complete rewrite in Rust. This update delivers a faster, single-binary installation and introduces powerful new features like live terminal streaming.
Unpacked:
The rewrite provides a faster, single static binary that simplifies installation across different environments and eliminates Python dependency headaches.
A new
streamcommand enables live, shareable terminal sessions, which can be broadcasted locally over HTTP for trusted networks or relayed through a remote server for wider access.Version 3.0 adopts a “local-first” approach by requiring an explicit
uploadcommand to publish recordings, addressing long-standing user privacy concerns about accidental uploads.
Bottom line: This release modernizes a key developer utility by leveraging Rust's performance and distribution advantages. It also showcases how Rust helps developers build more powerful and secure command-line tools.
The Shortlist
iceoryx2 released v0.7.0, a major update for the low-latency IPC library that adds full Python bindings, a network tunnel for cross-host communication, and a new shared-memory "blackboard" messaging pattern.
Redox published its development priorities for 2025-26, outlining a roadmap focused on building the Rust-based OS on itself, improving hardware support, and achieving compatibility for server and desktop environments.
The C++ standards committee reportedly deprioritized a proposal for a Rust-style memory safety model, with the proposal's author stating the committee's design principles are irreconcilable with the core of Rust's compile-time checks.
RustGPT emerged as a from-scratch implementation of a transformer-based LLM, demonstrating how to build core components like multi-head attention and tokenization in pure Rust without high-level AI libraries.