Programming language Rust now has the support of the Rust Foundation, an independent organization that will control the future of the language as more developers start using it.
Rust, which is being hatched at Mozilla as a safer alternative to C and C ++, has quickly become one of the most popular languages for system development, though not widely used for application development.
Google supports Rust for a key component of the Apache HTTP web server project, Amazon Web Services (AWS) invests in the Rust community and is a key sponsor, while Microsoft is monitoring it to replace some Windows components written in C /. C ++ and to develop components for the Azure cloud.
Rust only reached version 1.0 in 2015, so it is a relatively young language compared to Python, Java and JavaScript.
The language enabled Mozilla engineers to remove memory-related security flaws in Firefox’s Gecko version engine written in C ++. Developers have replaced about 160,000 C ++ lines in Firefox with 85,000 Rust lines. The language was critical to Mozilla’s Servo Browser Engine.
The establishment of the Rust Foundation is an important milestone for the language. As Niko Matsakis, a former Mozilla engineer, a core Rust contributor and now AWS engineer, recently remarked, there is a misperception that Rust is owned by Mozilla.
The foundation creates a vehicle to accept funding from organizations outside of Mozilla, such as AWS and Microsoft Azure.
“Unfortunately, there is sometimes a lingering perception that Mozilla” owns “Rust, which may discourage companies from investing, or create the perception that it is not necessary to support Rust, as Mozilla carries the bill. a foundation will make official what has long been true in practice: that Rust is an independent project, ‘Matsakis wrote recently.
“We have also heard several times from large and small companies that want to support Rust financially, but there is currently no clear way to do that. Creating a foundation creates a place where the support can be directed . “
Mozilla will continue to support Rust, but he will not sponsor the project alone. The Rust Foundation is holding its first board meeting on February 9th.
The board of directors includes representatives from AWS, Huawei, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla.
Over the past year, Microsoft has taken on the bills for Rust’s Continuous Integration (CI), while AWS has been supporting its storage costs for several years.
Until now, the Rust has not worked as a clear legal entity, which was previously Mozilla’s responsibility. These issues affected the project in several ways, including Rust Brands and Rust’s package management system, crates.io. Mozilla was also responsible for handling copyright removal requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The Rust team could not do simple things like sign a contract or set up a bank account to manage funds from sponsors like Microsoft and AWS.
‘One common example that emerges is the need to have an entity that can legally sign contracts’ for the Rust project’. For example, we recently wanted to sign up for Github’s Token Scanning program, but we could not find out who should sign the contract, ”notes Matsakis.
As part of the new arrangement, Mozilla transferred all trademark and infrastructure assets to the Rust Foundation, including the crates.io package registry.
“This is a major step in the growth of Rust on various axes; not least, a formal, financial commitment from a set of global leading companies, which marks the arrival of Rust as a production-ready technology,” said Ashley. Williams said. , interim executive director of the Rust Foundation.
“I am personally moved and motivated by the sense of responsibility that comes from this commitment. Our founding sponsors’ eager and enthusiastic participation is not only a promise to maintain and uphold Rust as it is today, but an endorsement of Rust’s values and a commitment to share the responsibility to cultivate the future that Rust strives for. ‘