Rust in Ubuntu

Rust is becoming a core part of Ubuntu's future. What started with projects like sudo-rs has evolved into a broader effort to bring memory-safe software to one of the world's most widely used Linux distributions. But what does adopting Rust at this scale actually look like? In this livestream, Orhun Parmaksız is joined by Jon Seager, VP Engineering at Canonical, to discuss how Rust is shaping Ubuntu today and where it's headed next. They'll explore: Why Canonical is investing in Rust and where it's already used across Ubuntu. The story behind projects like sudo-rs, Rust Coreutils, ntpd-rs, and Rustls. How Rust applications are packaged, shipped, and maintained in Ubuntu. The security, performance, and supply chain benefits driving adoption. Internal tooling, AI-assisted development, and C-to-Rust migration efforts. Challenges, lessons learned, and the biggest misconceptions about Rust in Ubuntu. The future of Rust in Ubuntu and what’s coming next. Whether you're interested in systems programming, Linux infrastructure, or large-scale Rust adoption, this conversation offers an inside look at how one of the world's most influential Linux distributions is embracing Rust. 00:00 Introduction 01:52 Jon Seager's path at Canonical and into Rust 04:06 Why Rust? 06:26 Rust in Ubuntu today (coreutils and sudo-rs) 10:02 ntpd-rs and unified NTP/NTS/PTP time synchronization 12:36 UPKI & Rustls 17:00 Adoption beyond Ubuntu 18:57 Why rewrite mature Unix tools 22:44 Compatibility surprises 26:11 GPL vs MIT 31:08 Adoption by other Linux distributions 32:16 Packaging, maintainer load, bugs & security audits 35:30 crates.io risk & vendoring 37:57 Reproducible builds & SBOMs 39:36 Rust interoperability and AI-assisted migration 45:37 Developer skills in the AI era 48:39 Funding & future priorities 52:25 Snaps, cross-distro use & MSRVs 58:43 Closing #Rust #Ubuntu #Linux #OpenSource #SystemsProgramming