Rust for Linux with Alice Ryhl and Greg Kroah-Hartman

Rust for Linux with Alice Ryhl and Greg Kroah-Hartman

From Rust in Production by Matthias Endler

May 21, 2026 · 50 min · Episode 45

About this episode

This episode features a discussion on how Rust is being integrated into the Linux kernel with insights from key figures in the field.

Hot off the press: this episode is a live recording from Rust Week in Utrecht, just two days ago. On stage with me are two people who hardly need an introduction in the Linux world: Greg Kroah-Hartman , Linux Foundation Fellow, stable kernel maintainer and an ambassador for the kernel, and Alice Ryhl , core maintainer of Tokio and one of the driving forces behind Rust for Linux at Google. I have to admit a bit of personal history here: I first wrote about Greg more than 20 years ago for the German online newspaper Pro-Linux . Getting to sit down with him, and with Alice, in front of a live audience to talk about how Rust is reshaping the most important piece of infrastructure on the planet, was a genuine career highlight. We get into the big questions: Why does Alice believe that interop, not rewrites, is how Rust wins inside Linux? How do you carefully weave in Rust while maintaining a 35-million-line C codebase? And what does it actually feel like, day to day, to write kernel code in Rust? “Rust is gonna save the Linux kernel.” — Greg Kroah-Hartman

People in this episode

Host: Matthias Endler

Guests: Alice Ryhl, Greg Kroah-Hartman

Topics covered

  • Rust programming
  • Linux kernel
  • Interop
  • Software development
  • Open source

Keywords

  • Rust
  • Linux
  • kernel
  • Alice Ryhl
  • Greg Kroah-Hartman
  • Tokio
  • interop
  • C codebase

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Linux Foundation, Tokio, Google

Places: Utrecht

More episodes of Rust in Production

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Rust in Production podcast page.