Linux 6.1 Merges Initial Rust Support
Released December 11, 2022, Linux 6.1 became the first kernel version to officially accept Rust as a second language for kernel development, alongside C.
Linux 6.1, released by Linus Torvalds on December 11, 2022, shipped with the initial infrastructure for writing Linux kernel code in Rust — the first time in the kernel’s history that a language other than C has been officially accepted for kernel development.
What actually landed
The pull request bringing Rust support was approved by Torvalds in October 2022, ahead of the 6.1 release. What merged was foundational infrastructure — roughly 12,000 lines of code — rather than any specific Rust-written driver shipping as production-ready. This distinction matters: 6.1 made it possible to write kernel code in Rust going forward, it didn’t convert any existing subsystem to Rust outright.
Why Rust, and why now
Rust’s appeal for kernel development centers on memory safety guarantees enforced at compile time — a large share of historical kernel security vulnerabilities trace back to memory-safety bugs (use-after-free, buffer overflows) that Rust’s ownership model is specifically designed to catch before code ever ships. Introducing it as a second, opt-in language rather than a wholesale replacement for C reflects a deliberately incremental approach: existing C code stays exactly as it is, while new drivers and subsystems gain the option to be written in a memory-safer language.
Where this fits in kernel history
Accepting a second systems-level language for kernel development is a genuinely rare event — the Linux kernel had been a C-only codebase (with some assembly) for its entire three-decade-plus history up to this point. The initial 6.1 merge has been followed by continued, incremental expansion of Rust-based driver support in subsequent kernel releases, alongside ongoing discussion within the kernel community about the pace and scope of that expansion.
Sources: Linux Kernel 6.1 is out with Initial Rust Support — debugpoint, Linux 6.1 Officially Adds Support for Rust in the Kernel — InfoQ, Rust for Linux — Wikipedia