If the readme is anything to go by, this doesn't look like it was written by hand. Codex if I were to guess. I wonder the coding agent "improved" the code.

The readme hints at the prompt:

> It keeps the original system's semantics — what it does — while rethinking how it's expressed: stronger types, clearer module boundaries, idiomatic abstractions everywhere.

"idiomatic abstractions" would certainly bloat the line count.

For fun, I decided to take a look at a random syscall: fork.

* https://github.com/yuan-xy/Linux-0.11/blob/master/kernel/for...

* https://github.com/Poseidon-fan/linux-0.11-rs/blob/420152fdf...

The Rust is slightly shorter, though it also isn't organized in exactly the same way. The code isn't that different overall, creating and copying some data structures around, as you'd expect for a fork implementation of this vintage.

Maybe I got lucky, but I would expect that it's more of what other people said: this repository includes far more than the kernel.

According to this breakdown: https://ghloc.vercel.app/Poseidon-fan/linux-0.11-rs?branch=m...

It's about 15k lines of code for the kernel and the rest is various utilities, libraries and programs that can run on the kernel.

This repo contains a lot of extra tools and userspace programs.

The majority of Rust the code in the repo is not for the Linux kernel.

Longer isn’t always worse.

C code probably has no problem mixing and perverting int vs enum. Bitfields, structs, etc…

A rust program would define an enum and also implement handling of unexpected values (or consider them errors). Structs and bitfields would be more intentionally used.

Sure, Rust macros can avoid the boilerplate code, but overall line count may still increase a bit.

That said, I’d blame auto-generated code here as other commenters do.

I don't think it's rust

I like how everyone has a different theory as to why

because of AI

More LoC means easier to quantify the impact when telling a story. The actual code quality may be lower but that’s the schmuck’s problem that comes after once promo is acquired.

One of the tradeoffs of Rust is its verbosity I think (in return for which Rustaceans would say you gain explicitness).

This is Linux 0.11 from 1991.

Someone is having fun with a side experiment that has no practical real-world implications.

This stuff is supposed to be fun and we should celebrate when other people are doing fun, pointless things like this. If you're interested then ignore it and move on. There's no need to get involved or comment if a project of no consequence is uninteresting to you personally

I have the opposite feeling; I am liking Rust more and more and thinking most of the world's C code should be rewritten. It seems like a sweet spot of enforced memory safety, performance, and human/agent readability.

I still like it. People are having fun playing with their toy and tool. I have no problem with that.

Of all the tools in software engineering to be overpopular and overused, Rust is an instance where that is a very good thing.

Atleast people aren't AI rewriting things into PHP.

Can you elaborate on what causes that reaction specifically?

Written by AI and not nearly as impressive at all. Such a shame because I thought someone had spent real time and effort producing this. The output is commoditised and now neither important nor precious. Damn near anyone could repeat it.

I hate LLMs so, so much. They are destroying everything that used to be cool about programming. Or maybe the problem is that a bunch of people who don't actually like programming joined the industry, and now they have a tool that lets them phone it in even harder.

Presumably, but exactly the sort of project where slopware is appropriate. Nobody is expected to use it.

If it's written with nostd, I'd expect them to be similar.

As soon as Linus retires, there will be an initiative to rewrite the Linux kernel in Rust assisted by LLMs. Either that, or some company will fund a fork before that. Imagine, man pages full of emojis!

With a project like this, I would expect that "idiomatic Rust" means "attempting to write as much safe code as is reasonably possible" rather than "translating the C to Rust directly".

Rock and roll is for people with limited musical ability. Heavy metal is for people with no musical ability. Your comparison of rust to heavy metal is apt and holds up well.

;)

Stop trying to make fetch happen