Microsoft: Using Rust to Rewrite Windows Components

In July, we reported that “Microsoft is exploring Rust as a safe alternative to C and C++“. According to Microsoft, Rust is a programming language that fundamentally considers safety. They will attempt to rewrite various products using Rust, as over 70% of the security patches provided by the company in the past decade have addressed memory-related errors, and Rust is seen as the “cure” for this issue.

Recently, Microsoft revealed its experimental experience of using Rust to replace C/C++ in writing Windows components. Although it did not specify which products will be rewritten in Rust, Microsoft stated that it will keep users updated on the progress of the experiment.

Microsoft indicated that the current experimental work is going well, and engineers described their experience with Rust as “wonderful”. Although some features are not yet complete, they will continue to push the project forward.

Adam Burch, a software engineer from the Microsoft Hyper-V team, stated in a blog post:

My task is to experimentally rewrite a low-level system component of the Windows codebase (which cannot be disclosed at this time). Although this project is not yet complete, overall, the experimental experience with Rust has been very positive. Porting new components or existing components with clean interfaces to Rust is quite easy.

While the process of experimenting with Rust has not been smooth, it is unrealistic to expect it to be. Burch noted that safe transitions, safe support for C, accurate allocations, and support for large-scale unit testing are required by Microsoft’s extensive code testing infrastructure. Burch believes that Microsoft will shape the future of the language through its efforts to enhance its usefulness in these situations.

Burch further added that Rust has a bright future in microcontrollers and low-level systems such as kernels and hypervisors, where the language’s primary characteristic of safety will be highly attractive once matured. Currently, in the microcontroller market, it is primarily Intel that is supporting and promoting it, working to bring Rust to the same functionality as C.

If Microsoft aims to be the first operating system vendor to rewrite some Windows components using Rust, it should speed up its efforts, as the Linux project is also considering using Rust in some kernel drivers.

Source:ZDNet