Re: Hard Rust requirements from May onward
On Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 4:49 PM Julian Andres Klode <jak@debian.org> wrote:
>
> I plan to introduce hard Rust dependencies and Rust code into
> APT, no earlier than May 2026. This extends at first to the
> Rust compiler and standard library, and the Sequoia ecosystem.
>
> In particular, our code to parse .deb, .ar, .tar, and the
> HTTP signature verification code would strongly benefit
> from memory safe languages and a stronger approach to
> unit testing.
>
> If you maintain a port without a working Rust toolchain,
> please ensure it has one within the next 6 months, or
> sunset the port.
>
> It's important for the project as whole to be able to
> move forward and rely on modern tools and technologies
> and not be held back by trying to shoehorn modern software
> on retro computing devices.
Forgive my ignorance... Do you plan on rewriting Apt in Rust? Or just
some of the parsers, based on the IRC chat message posted by Julian
Andres Klode:
2025-07-24 13:45:24 juliank Probably should rewrite parsers in Rust,
but retrocomputing ports get in the way at least :D
The reason I'm asking is, the behaviors between Aptitude, Apt and
Apt-get vary. That is, upgrade, safe-upgrade and dist-upgrade are
different in the way dependencies and recommends are handled and held
back. It causes a fair amount of confusion on the debain-users
mailing list.
Rather than trying to duplicate Apt behavior in a rewrite, it would
probably be wise to create a new tool named apt-rs or similar.
Otherwise, folks are going to have to explain why Apt no longer works
like it used to. And it will go on and on. It will be like a used
tire fire that never goes out.
Jeff
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