Rust for Linux Programming: Build kernel modules, drivers, file systems, networking, and memory using Rust's ownership, traits, and RAII

What’s really cool is this hands-on Rust book takes you inside the Linux kernel and gives you the power to reshape it. It’s all about building working kernel subsystems from scratch, covering process management, memory allocation, virtual file systems, networking, device drivers, inter-process communication, and AI-powered inference, and all in Rust. When you’re done, you’ll have registered procfs and sysfs interfaces, written Netfilter hooks that classify packets with a neural network, constructed RAII wrappers for DMA buffers and interrupt handlers, and implemented a complete in-memory file system on the VFS layer.

Each chapter adds new source files to the same module, so by the time you get to the last chapter, your codebase has grown to various kernel subsystems. This hands-on, trainer-led approach is designed for both those new to Rust and experienced Rust developers looking to get into kernel space. You’ll get the skills, patterns and confidence to write top-notch kernel code that’s just as fast and safe as its C equivalent.

Key Learnings

• Build and load kernel modules using Rust-for-Linux toolchain
• Wrap unsafe C kernel APIs into safe RAII abstractions
• Manage kernel memory through page allocation, slab caches, and memory pools
• Implement custom in-memory file system on VFS layer
• Write Netfilter hooks to inspect, filter, and transmit network packets
• Register platform device drivers with safe MMIO and DMA wrappers
• Handle hardware interrupts using trait-based handlers with automatic deregistration
• Build kernel-space IPC with message queues, shared memory, and wait queues
• Run fixed-point neural network inference inside kernel without floating point
• Apply trait-based extensibility patterns across every kernel subsystem

Table of Content

1. Why Rust for Linux Kernel?
2. Thinking in Rust for Systems Programming
3. Talking to Kernel through System Calls
4. Managing Processes
5. Rust-Powered Memory Management
6. Building File Systems on VFS
7. Networking from Inside Kernel
8. Writing Device Drivers
9. Safe Inter-Process Communication
10. Bringing AI into Linux Kernel