Meta has initiated a transition of its mobile messaging infrastructure from a legacy C codebase to Rust, primarily to tackle challenges in maintainability, memory safety, and developer satisfaction. The change affects billions of users who utilize apps like Facebook and Messenger. Issues in the old C runtime included complex memory management and coding practices that led to bugs. Rust’s features, including memory safety and developer support, promise a more efficient and enjoyable development process, along with a focus on enhancing developer velocity during the transition.
Meta has begun rewriting its mobile messaging infrastructure in Rust, gradually replacing a legacy C codebase that engineers say had become increasingly difficult to maintain and frustrating to work with.
The library at the center of the effort, ships in every Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Instagram Lite, VR-headset and wearable build, touching billions of users each day.
Rust's compile-time ownership checks remove entire classes of those errors, but the team emphasizes day-to-day happiness as much as safety.
The learning curve for Rust can often be seen as daunting, with most of the engineers tackling the rewrite arriving with little or no Rust background.
Collection
[
|
...
]