Canonical supports project to translate large C codebases into safe Rust

Canonical has announced it will fund a new open‑source initiative aimed at converting large C codebases into safe Rust. The project, which is still in its early stages, seeks to provide automated tooling that can translate legacy C code while preserving functionality and performance. By leveraging Rust’s ownership model and compile‑time safety checks, the effort intends to reduce the prevalence of memory‑related bugs that have historically plagued C‑based software.

The initiative is part of Canonical’s broader strategy to strengthen the Rust ecosystem within the Linux community. Developers participating in the project will be able to run the conversion tools on existing code, review the generated Rust modules, and incrementally replace C components. Canonical plans to release the tooling under an open‑source license and invites contributions from the wider community, including other Linux vendors and security researchers.

If successful, the project could provide a practical pathway for organizations to modernize their software stacks without rewriting code from scratch. By making large, complex C applications safer through Rust, Canonical hopes to improve overall system reliability and security across the Linux ecosystem.