Rust in base

[Ihor Antonov]

Hi folks, 

As I was reading this article [1] I started wondering what would it take to bring Rust into base? 
Examples of Rust code could be kernel modules, or userland utilities. 

I know that this probably is not going to happen without a real usecase (FreeBSD book states - do not add extra functionality unless a real task can't be completed without it"), but there is a bootstrapping problem. 
You cannot have rust code until you have rust code unless you have rust compiler, and rust compiler is written in rust... This could be a major roadblock for someone who wants to contribute a kernel module or new tool written in rust. 

There is a growing interest in Rust language and if FreeBSD allows to add rust code in base it would allow to attract more contributors interested that are interested in developing operating systems. It would also be something that Linux does not have. 


So there are 2 questions: 
- technical one: how bootstrapping issue can be solved? 
- what does FreeBSD community think of the idea to have Rust in base? 

Thanks. 


Ihor 


[1] https://www.leidinger.net/blog/2019/01/27/strategic-thinking-or-what-i-think-what-we-need-to-do-to-keep-freebsd-relevant/