Re: Planned obsolescence ? (*BSD, Rust)

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Man, I really hate to chime in on a big email chain as a random user, but..=
.

I'm part of the Sega Dreamcast homebrew community and the bigger SH4 scene,
and while sure, we're relatively ancient, there are actually a lot of us,
and there is a LOT of love left for the target. We have had many, many
people express interest in using Rust on the Dreamcast and SH4, and we have
done everything in our power to personally help facilitate getting Rust
support for our target in any way possible, including supporting the early
work of GCCRS and have done a LOT of testing and experimenting
with rustc_codegen_gcc on SH4, and even got it far enough along to run the
Tokio async runtime and whole stdlib on the Dreamcast.

While I fully understand wanting to use Rust or not wanting to be held back
by legacy hardware, I do wonder if the timeframe given is a bit aggressive
given the fact that there are TWO avenues which would open up support for
Rust to our platform which are both in the works...

On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 6:35=E2=80=AFAM Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide <arne_bab@=
web.de>
wrote:

>
> David Starner <[email protected]> writes:
> > The developer has decided to do a rewrite in Rust instead of some
> > other memory safe language. There are certain advantages to going with
> > the language more people know and use. Part of it is that systems that
> > don't support Rust are going to be less and less capable of using
> > modern software. (For a counter example, look at CVSup, written in
>
> This sounds awful. Especially since it is a software issue: the hardware
> is capable of running Rust, it=E2=80=99s just LLVM that doesn=E2=80=99t s=
upport it.
>
> Riccardo Mottola <[email protected]> writes:
> > Perhaps if rust on GCC gives "enough rust" do compile the needed
> > tools, it might be enough to support also architectures whic gcc
> > supports, that is for now 68k, PPC, Alpa, HP-PA...
> > [1] https://rust-gcc.github.io/
>
> I asked in #gccrust IRC on oftc.net GCCrs about the state and sam
> pointed me to a recent timeline update:
>
> > We still think we'll be able to compile libcore before the end of the
> > summer
> =E2=80=A6
> > We expect to be able to compile some 1.49 code correctly next year
> =E2=80=A6
> > The next targeted version will probably be rust 1.78 as we want to
> > keep up with rust for linux. This shouldn't be too long
> > --
> https://lore.kernel.org/git/7bf054a1-0196-4ad8-aaa4-a432cd2c93a5@embecosm=
.com/
>
> So maybe not kill support for old hardware when a solution may be
> available next summer.
>
> At that point it would be viable to ask people to test their projects
> against GCCrs, too.
>
> Best wishes,
> Arne
> --
> Unpolitisch sein
> hei=C3=9Ft politisch sein,
> ohne es zu merken.
> draketo.de
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr">Man, I really hate to chime in on a big email chain as a r=
andom user, but...<br><br>I&#39;m part of the Sega Dreamcast homebrew commu=
nity and the bigger SH4 scene, and while sure, we&#39;re relatively ancient=
, there are actually a lot of us, and there is a LOT of love left for the t=
arget. We have had many, many people express interest in using Rust on the =
Dreamcast and SH4, and we have done everything in our power to personally h=
elp facilitate getting Rust support for our target in any way possible, inc=
luding supporting the early work of GCCRS and have done a LOT of testing an=
d experimenting with=C2=A0rustc_codegen_gcc on SH4, and even got it far eno=
ugh along to run the Tokio async runtime and whole stdlib on the Dreamcast.=
<br><br>While I fully understand wanting to use Rust or not wanting to be h=
eld back by legacy hardware, I do wonder if the timeframe given is a bit ag=
gressive given the fact that there are TWO avenues which would open up supp=
ort for Rust to our platform which are both in the works...=C2=A0</div><br>=
<div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"=
gmail_attr">On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 6:35=E2=80=AFAM Dr. Arne Babenhauserheid=
e &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br>=
</div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;b=
order-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br>
David Starner &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank"=
>[email protected]</a>&gt; writes:<br>
&gt; The developer has decided to do a rewrite in Rust instead of some<br>
&gt; other memory safe language. There are certain advantages to going with=
<br>
&gt; the language more people know and use. Part of it is that systems that=
<br>
&gt; don&#39;t support Rust are going to be less and less capable of using<=
br>
&gt; modern software. (For a counter example, look at CVSup, written in<br>
<br>
This sounds awful. Especially since it is a software issue: the hardware<br=
>
is capable of running Rust, it=E2=80=99s just LLVM that doesn=E2=80=99t sup=
port it.<br>
<br>
Riccardo Mottola &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=
=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a>&gt; writes:<br>
&gt; Perhaps if rust on GCC gives &quot;enough rust&quot; do compile the ne=
eded<br>
&gt; tools, it might be enough to support also architectures whic gcc<br>
&gt; supports, that is for now 68k, PPC, Alpa, HP-PA...<br>
&gt; [1] <a href=3D"https://rust-gcc.github.io/" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=
=3D"_blank">https://rust-gcc.github.io/</a><br>
<br>
I asked in #gccrust IRC on <a href=3D"http://oftc.net" rel=3D"noreferrer" t=
arget=3D"_blank">oftc.net</a> GCCrs about the state and sam<br>
pointed me to a recent timeline update:<br>
<br>
&gt; We still think we&#39;ll be able to compile libcore before the end of =
the<br>
&gt; summer<br>
=E2=80=A6<br>
&gt; We expect to be able to compile some 1.49 code correctly next year<br>
=E2=80=A6<br>
&gt; The next targeted version will probably be rust 1.78 as we want to<br>
&gt; keep up with rust for linux. This shouldn&#39;t be too long<br>
&gt; -- <a href=3D"https://lore.kernel.org/git/7bf054a1-0196-4ad8-aaa4-a432=
[email protected]/" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://lore.k=
ernel.org/git/[email protected]/</a><br>
<br>
So maybe not kill support for old hardware when a solution may be<br>
available next summer.<br>
<br>
At that point it would be viable to ask people to test their projects<br>
against GCCrs, too.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Arne<br>
-- <br>
Unpolitisch sein<br>
hei=C3=9Ft politisch sein,<br>
ohne es zu merken.<br>
<a href=3D"http://draketo.de" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">draketo.=
de</a><br>
</blockquote></div>

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