alt Hacker NewsAlmost the only thing I don't like about Rust is that a bunch of people actively looking to subvert software freedom have set up shop around it. If everything was licensed correctly and designed to resist control by special interests, I'd be a lot happier with having committed to it.
The language itself I find wonderful, and I suspect that it will get significantly better. Being GPL-hostile, centralized without proper namespacing, and having a Microsoft dependency through Github registration is aggravating. When it all goes bad, all the people silencing everyone complaining about it will play dumb.
If there's anything I would want rewritten in something like Rust, it would be an OS kernel.
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You missed that Microsoft has several Rust contributors and is one of the main sponsors of using Rust in Linux, alongside Google.
Many forget that Microsoft went from "FOSS is bad", to now having their fingers across many key FOSS projects.
They are naturally not the only ones, a developer got to eat, and big tech gladly pays the bills when it fits their purposes.
> GPL-hostile
Not sure if it is particularly hostile. There are several GPL crates like Slint.
> Microsoft dependency through Github registration is aggravating
This one is concerning.
> actively looking to subvert software freedom
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by apathy. We have, unfortunately, reached a point where most people writing new software default to permissive and don't sufficiently care about copyleft. I wish we hadn't, but we have. This is not unique to Rust.
Ironically, we're better off when existing projects migrate to Rust, because they'll keep their licenses, while rewrites do what most new software does, and default to permissive.
Personally, I'm happy every time I see a new crate using the GPL.
> GPL-hostile
Rust is not GPL-hostile. LLVM was the available tool that spawned a renaissance of new languages; GCC wasn't. The compiler uses a permissive license; I personally wish it were GPL, but it isn't. But there's nothing at all wrong with writing GPLed software in Rust, and people do.
> having a Microsoft dependency through Github registration is aggravating
This one bugs a lot of us, and it is being worked on.