By Liam Proven
Publication Date: 2026-05-13 15:21:00
On-Prem
Patch series would bring memory-safe code to Linux’s s390 port, with compiler caveats attached
IBM’s effort to bring in-kernel Rust to its mainframe platform has taken a step forward, although anyone hoping to use it on production iron will need to be comfortable with a nightly Rust compiler for now.
Engineer Jan Polensky has submitted a patch series titled “s390: enable Rust support and add required arch glue.” If accepted, it will allow Rust code to be used in the Linux kernel on IBM mainframe hardware, which the kernel still refers to as s390 after the generation of IBM mainframe kit introduced in 1990. He notes:
Rust support on s390 requires a small set of architecture-specific pieces before the generic Rust kernel infrastructure can be used.
The series wires up s390 as a Rust-capable 64-bit architecture, adds the missing assembly interfaces needed by Rust for…
