Three questions and answers: Are these Rust tools for Linux worth it

Recently, new Rust tools for Linux have been making a name for themselves – after years of little change in most shell tools for everyday admin work, developers who are willing to experiment are now tackling the userland in new ways. New iX 8/2024 cover author Martin Gerhard Loschwitz takes a closer look at the projects.

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Martin Gerhard Loschwitz is a freelance journalist, trainer, and consultant on OpenStack, Ceph, Kubernetes, and all related topics.

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Existing Linux tools have proven themselves. Why are so many programmers now trying to develop alternatives?

Because it works. And because they can. Joking aside: “we’ve always done it this way” has never been a valid justification in the open source scene for someone not to do something or, as in this case, doing nothing. And luckily this is the case: if there weren’t regular (young and wild) developers who questioned existing conventions, some of the great software of today would probably never have come to light. Because what started as so-called academic nonsense later became established in the market, not least the Linux kernel itself.

Classic command line tools also offer the advantage that you work very closely with the core of the operating system – so you learn a lot about the basic functions of Linux systems and also expand your knowledge of Rust. After all, not everyone is completely happy with today’s existing CLI tools. For example, many people would like a faster ls. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with someone taking the first step and developing something and then putting it up for discussion. Most Rust alternatives to classic coreutils have long gone beyond the discussion status.

How does the developers’ approach differ? Do administrators have to get used to it completely or are only some changes to scripts etc. required?

Classic lawyer’s answer: It depends. If, as an administrator, I want to replace the existing coreutils C tools with their Rust equivalents, there is a separate project for that designed for full CLI compatibility with the GNU versions. The expectation here is very clear that the tools written in Rust support the same parameters and can be used in the same way as the tools that are included in classic Linux systems today. The CLI output should also be identical so that the tools can be used as a one-to-one replacement in scripts. Maintainers of Rust Coreutils Project If the project’s tools are not fully compatible with their GNU counterparts then consider it a bug.

The situation is different in the way developers implement classic tools in Rust today. Here things are more comfortable: for example, the various replicas of ps in Rust offer a different view, different CLI parameters and more performance. It’s about creating a more user-friendly and faster successor tool for ps rather than simply replicating it. There are no limits to your imagination, but in turn the tools can no longer be used as a drop-in replacement for classic coreutils. In some projects this will fail because they present their output in a pager view, i.e. are not directly connected to the shell.

What tools in particular can you recommend – and which ones should you stay away from?

I would like to processes As a replacement for PS, and also as an LS replacement Eza It performed very well in our personal testing – even on macOS, an operating system for which Rust tools are not primarily developed. However, it was also possible to easily install most of the test subjects using Homebrew.

I was also impressed Rioan extremely practical Rust-based terminal emulator that pays homage to the classic Kitty. As Zellij There is also a Rust replacement for Tmux, which I also like because it seems a little faster than its model. Overall, what the Rust community has achieved so far in terms of basic shell tools is absolutely impressive. And I’m excited to see what we might see in the future.

Martin, thank you very much for the answer! An overview of the new Rust tools for Linux can be found in the new iX. We also show how developers reimplement GNU coreutils in Rust – and take a serious look at Rust vs. C in the Linux kernel. Readers can find all this and many other topics in the August issue, now available at the Heise shop or kiosk.

In the “Three Questions and Answers” series, iX wants to get to the core of today’s IT challenges – whether it’s the user’s perspective in front of the PC, the manager’s perspective or the administrator’s everyday life. Do you have any suggestions from your daily practice or from your users? Whose suggestions on what topic would you like to read briefly and to the point? Then feel free to write to us or leave a comment in the forum.

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