Using rust with bitbake and meta-rust

About me
- Senior Firmware Developer at Lexmark International
  - Using bitbake to build laser printer firmware
- Been using bitbake professionally since 2014
- Using and advocating for rust since pre 1.0 days
What is rust?
- Compare to go
  - GC vs. no gc
  - null pointers vs. not
- Algebraic types
  - Code example
- Borrow checker
  - Code example
- Extremely powerful macro system
  - Code example
Why would you want to use rust?
- High performance
- Low overhead
- Safer than C/C++
  - Con: increased time from "I wrote a thing" to "it builds"
  - Pro: decreased time from "I wrote a thing" to "it works and covers edge cases and common security problems"
  - Ideal for code that needs to process untrusted inputs
    - Network client/servers
    - Parsing byte streams
- Rich tool ecosystem
  - cargo
  - rustfmt
  - clippy
Why not use rust?
- Still maturing (async/await is still maturing)
- Code size (relative to C/C++)
- Can iterate faster with a higher level language
- Not ideal for all domains (e.g. GUI app)
meta-rust
- Used by Microsoft's meta-iotedge project
- rust is easy to cross-compile relative to other languages I've used
- Pro: cargo is "batteries included" and can do everything for you as a stand-alone tool
- Con: cargo expects to do everything for you, including dependency management
- cargo bitbake (Example?)
meta-rust intended for cross-compile, not self-hosting yet
Future of meta-rust (oe-core inclusion)
Thanks to meta-rust the maintainers!
- Cody Schafer
- Doug Goldstein
- Tyler Hall
- Paul Osborne
- Derek Straka
- Everyone who has contributed

Abstract

An overview of the Rust programming language and how the meta-rust project enables convenient Rust development in Yocto-based projects

Description

This session will discuss using the Rust programming language in Yocto-based projects. We will cover how to enable Rust cross-compiler infrastructure using meta-rust. By the end of the session participants will have information on building a Rust-based application with bitbake. We will also cover the advantages of using Rust and how it compares to other modern programming languages. Participants will be equipped to know where Rust will be most effective and what trade-offs exist in its use.

The ideal audience is anyone who is curious about the Rust programming language, or new languages in general, with some familiarity of the Yocto project. Assumes no existing knowledge about Rust.