Rustaceans at the border

Rustaceans at the border

The problem is not the “some number goes up”. The problem is that Rust is still getting major features like const generics or GATs.

And because these are significant, major features people often adopt in the matter of weeks and months. Some “conservative” crates only use features which are six months old, but not all crates which kernel may need or want would be “conservative”.

And even then six months is not much, kernel is accustomed for times measured in years. GCC 5.1 is still supported and that was released seven years ago!

That impedance mismatch would be much bigger problem than any hypothetical issue with Rust editions.

Yes, in theory Rust editions can wreak total chaos every three years. In practice that's a tempest in a teapot: they come rarely enough and changes are minor enough that this formal incompatibility rarely becomes a problem in practice.

But the requirement to use six months old compiler can be real PITA for may kernel users.