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@SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml

2026-09-15 18:22 UTC

Ubuntu's Rustification Has a New Milestone! Coreutils Migration is Complete Oboi here we go 🙄 Ubuntu has managed to do away with GNU Core Utilities in its default stack. The last three holdouts, cp, mv and rm, have moved to uutils’ coreutils; the Rust reimplementation Canonical has been feeding into the distro since 2025. They had been held back from 26.04 LTS over flaws in the uutils versions. Everything else, from ls and cat to chmod and du, made that jump in earlier releases. This change, while big, sits hidden away in an obscure mention in Canonical’s work-in-progress release notes for Ubuntu 26.10. It’s been a long road Canonical started oxidising Ubuntu last year, and Ubuntu 25.10 became the first release to ship coreutils as the default. That release also made sudo-rs the default privilege tool, replacing a command that had been in place for decades. 26.04 was the release where the plan did slow down quite a bit, as Canonical kept cp, mv, and rm on their GNU versions due to a bunch of TOCTOU issues that were blocking the full implementation. These were caught during an audit, when Canonical commissioned Zellic for two rounds between December 2025 and March 2026, focusing on the most security-sensitive utilities first. Across both rounds, Zellic raised 113 issues, and 44 of them were assigned CVEs. Canonical says the vast majority have been resolved. Getting here has had its ups and downs, and the last stretch was not clean. In July, uutils cp went back into the archive and came straight out again after it broke live image builds. The fix was quick; as the developers marked it “Critical,” the fix went upstream, and the migration landed in time for 26.10. What changes for you? When typing commands, nothing changes for you on the surface. uutils coreutils is designed to be a drop-in replacement for essential GNU tools, and the project treats any divergence from GNU as a bug, further pointing out that some options may still be missing or behave differently. So if you prefer staying on the GNU version, you have the option to install the coreutils-from-gnu package that houses all the required components. The next stage Coreutils is one piece of a broader campaign. Earlier this year, Canonical became a Gold Sponsor of the Trifecta Tech Foundation, pitching in €40,000 a year to fund memory-safe system software. Under this, their current target is ntpd-rs, a Rust rewrite of the tools Ubuntu uses to keep its clock in sync. While work is still ongoing, it has already arrived for testing. Its transition to being default is targeted for Ubuntu 27.04. What Canonical is gradually building up towards is the completion of their oxidation vision for Ubuntu, and it’s not about blindly including new components. Rather, it looks like a measured approach that’s being worked out a few steps at a time.

Replies (15)

  • @thenextguy@sh.itjust.works 2026-09-15 19:00

    So, they will have to continue to support feature for feature, bug for bug with coreutils and others forever? What’s the endgame here?

    Open ##4709806

  • @umbrella@lemmy.ml 2026-09-15 19:13

    i don’t really trust this

    Open ##4709993

  • @Azazel@lemmy.ml 2026-09-15 19:27

    As a developer I love rust but canonical can fuck all the way off with this shameless license laundering.

    Open ##4710190

  • @somegeek@programming.dev 2026-09-15 20:31

    screw this project and it’s goal of corporate takover of a GPL project

    Open ##4711050

  • @RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world 2026-09-15 20:30

    This is dumb, I have to use osX for work and having coreutils be similar but not quite the same is a PITA, why would you inflict this on yourself to close a class of bugs that aren’t really a huge concern for coreutils.

    Open ##4711092

  • @thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 2026-09-15 21:07

    I don’t understand why Canonical is replacing the existing GNU tools. Unlike many others, I don’t think its “taking over GPL projects” or “license laundering” and I am also not against MIT license. My question is, why Canonical is doing this.

    Open ##4711411

  • @mesamunefire@piefed.social 2026-09-15 22:05

    Its not 1-1 so this is going to fry some bash scripts and install scripts. At work we had to stop using Ubuntu because of a couple of bad installs via this change. Debian is just as good so its fine. I have no opinions on the rewrite, but I wish they made a flavor or something just for this.

    Open ##4712086

  • @provectus@lemmy.ml 2026-09-15 22:45

    The corporate adoption has already started. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/…/overview Windows is now using uutils for their coreutils. I want to see if Microsoft gives back anything to the project.

    Open ##4712584

  • @admin@lemmy.my-box.dev 2026-09-16 02:35

    So… Let’s assume I don’t go around reading licenses for fun. Can anyone explain to me what the major differences are between MIT and GPL?

    Open ##4715877

  • @sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-09-16 04:30

    It’s been a long road[…] 🎵🎶🎵

    Open ##4717013

  • @story@lemmy.zip 2026-09-16 08:28

    how long am i gonna suck on this nasty dick until i finally move to BSD

    Open ##4721601

  • @Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world 2026-09-16 23:05

    So for someone coming back into the open source linux world and went back to Ubuntu, does this mean that they’re becoming like Microsoft? Does this mean I need to try a different OS?

    Open ##4731489

  • @Shanmugha@lemmy.world 2026-09-17 08:27

    So one more sign that I am right to be suspicious of rust. Thank you for sharing :)

    Open ##4735467

  • @dropdrip@lemmy.ml 2026-09-17 10:01

    The rust has set in and the rot begins…

    Open ##4736113

  • @liberatedGuy@lemmy.ml 2026-09-17 10:23

    As for the tech, I will leave it to those who are experts in the field. My worries are about the licensing. I just love GPL licences.

    Open ##4736290