Actually, what we probably want is something like openSUSE MicroOS with containers based on Nix or Guix.

Best would be if openSUSE simply adopted Nix/Guix for container configuration.

Don’t forget about Nix and Guix.

I think it makes great sense to use Nix (or better Guix). The users are not expected to do any configurations. They basically need a browser and maybe a text editor if it’s the public sector.

Also, you can run Nix or Guix on basically any other dist. Which is very helpful for reproducible deployments.

Ubuntu doesn’t make any sense. Better use Debian in that case. We don’t need to give yet another eccentric South African billionaire more power.

SUSE is owned by the Swedish venture capital firm EQT. For better or worse. All software has “ties” to the US. Remember there are lots of good people in the US as well. Everything isn’t MAGA or tech feudalism.

I agree. Most Linux distributions have their base within the EU. Just dumb to bring a new Fedora based dist to the table. Debian is also very connected to the EU and France, even though the SPI is registered within the US.

One could push for The Linux Foundation to to move their HQ to the EU. If that changes anything. I guess it depends on if Linus resigns or wants to move back to Finland.

Yes.

What languages and patterns will be considered woke?

For sure memory safety and dependent types. C++ will probably be shoved down our throats.

If you don’t use pass, you should probably hate yourself.

Don’t know about the EU, but this is the only one you’ll ever need.

https://www.passwordstore.org/

Fuck Reddit.

Totally agree. The majority of Americans are great people. Not everyone is MAGA. We need to support the good ones. Sanctions and boycotts tend to unite.

One exception would be if the project imposse a security risk because key people and servers, within the US, may be blackmailed or pushed by the new administration. We’re not there yet though. And I hope these projects and people migrate if this becomes the case.

Also, FOSS projects run by big tech are probably also wise to avoid for strategic reasons.

I stopped using Nextcloud a couple of years ago after it corrupted my encrypted storage. I’m giving it a try again because of political emergency. But we sure need a long term replacement. Written in Rust or some other sane language.

Just buy a Steam Deck instead.

Quit?

Because its a more user friendly experience. Your grandma can use it with no hustle. Matrix is more complicated UX and also much slower and buggier (at least if you use Element and matrix.org). Ive actually started to prefer Delta Chat over Matrix.

My point is simply that it’s probably not worth it to add another language. Doesn’t have anything to do with Rust really.

Though I do think that the language is a bit over hyped. It’s obvious companies and projects used to say they’re using Rust, not just because they want to attract young developers or like the language, but because it’s a way to get VC. Like AI and blockchain.

I do like Rust. But mostly because it encourages functional style programming. And the tooling is of course awesome. Especially compared to C and C++. However, I do believe that static pure functional languages are superior to Rust.

I don’t think you get my point.

Of course I don’t mean that you should introduce Lisp or Scheme into the Linux kernel. However, I don’t rule out anything when it comes to the future of programming. Kernel programming isn’t that special. If you need to make a scheduler, dynamic memory manager or an interpreter, as part of the kernel, because it solves your problem, you do it. Maybe you want the kernel to generate thread optimised FPGA and micro code on the fly? And this is done with some kind of interpreter. Who knows.

My point is that it’s probably a bad idea introduce any new language into the kernel. A new backwards compatible version of memory safe c might be a good idea though. If it can be done.

Haven’t touched the Linux kernel in 10+ years, but my guess is that a good approach is to write a new micro kernel in Rust. One that is compatible with most existing drivers and board support packages. And of course it has to maintain the userspace ABI and POSIX yada yada. Probably what the Redox project aims for, but I don’t know.

Keeping the Rust bindings in a separate project might be unnecessary though. I’m sceptic about allowing upstream drivers written in Rust just because I find that there is such a great value in sticking to one language. I also know that many kernel developers are getting old and it gets harder to learn new languages the older you get. Especially if the language comes with a decent share of sugar and bling (the minimalism of lisp and c is valuable).

If there is a problem finding driver developers that want to write C code, then sure. But breaking the flow of the senior maintainers/developers likely isn’t worth it. Unless they ask for it.

And also, I really haven’t been following this Rust in the Linux kernel debate.

I’m not saying that Rust will go away.

My gut tells me that any benefits of adding Rust is massively negated by the addition of a second language.

If one wants to write Rust, there is always Redox and probably a bunch of other kernels.

I like Rust, but it’s for sure an over hyped language. In a year or two, people will push for Zig, Mojo or some new pure and polished functional low level language. Maybe a Scheme or a Lisp? That seems to be what the cool kids use nowadays.

Or maybe we’ll just replace the kernel with an AI that generates machine code according with what should be your intention.

Yeah. There’s something with their website and presentation that feels… Well, it didn’t turn off my alarm. I’m also too tired to dive deeper and find out by myself.

The keyboard seems really good though. Just wish the app would ask for mic permissions when it’s actually needed.