from Hacker News

CrabLang

by return_to_monke on 4/16/23, 5:14 PM with 77 comments

  • by jadodev on 4/16/23, 6:10 PM

    > This was not a "knee-jerk" reaction, nor was it an attempt to spread fear or cause panic. While the document the foundation drafted did lead to the fork, we believe it is an overdue solution to a problem that already existed, and addresses some issues that many community members have had for some time.

    This is obviously very knee-jerk and will either die or end up creating the same bureaucracy that Rust has. People love to complain about bureaucracy without understanding it exists for many reasons. The Rust teams are far more equipped to handle the development of Rust than anyone entertaining this fork (unless, of course, a significant number of members of the Rust teams decide to move over).

  • by rvz on 4/16/23, 6:11 PM

    So here comes the in-fighting. Looks like someone listened to the call to action to fork the language [0] and just did that to their 'beloved' language.

    Again, the moment the Rust Foundation chose to be a 501(c)(6) it was all going to go downhill from there as I and others have warned about this [1] years before.

    There is a good reason why other language foundations like Python Software Foundation, NumFocus (Julia lang), D Language Foundation, Zig Software Foundation, R Foundation, etc, are 501(c)(3).

    [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35524666

    [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35583460

  • by owlglass on 4/16/23, 5:50 PM

    From the GitHub repo:

    * A community fork of a language named after a plant fungus. All of the memory-safe features you love, now with 100% less bureaucracy! *

    I assumed with the 'oxide' and 'ferrous' references that Rust's etymology had to do with corrosion, and while that's part of the explanation, it's mostly about fungi [1]

    [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16494822/why-is-it-calle...

  • by lucasyvas on 4/16/23, 7:55 PM

    Fortunately I'm in it for the language and not the name - the fork likely just stands to prove a point and it'll probably end there. But if the governance turns out to be ridiculous the dominant fork will eventually change and most would follow that without hesitation I'd think.

    Contributors won't want to work on the whatever the "inferior" version is.

  • by programmarchy on 4/16/23, 6:14 PM

    Reminds me of the io.js [1] fork of Node in the battle with Joyent.

    [1] https://gist.github.com/maxogden/d96123138522c84cdb25

  • by The_Colonel on 4/16/23, 5:50 PM

    So ... will anyone reveal the secret and say of which language this is a fork ok?

    No samples, no documentation, vague reference to "plant fungus"?

  • by spencerchubb on 4/16/23, 6:20 PM

    So the only difference with CrabLang is that others are allowed to use the CrabLang name and logo in the ecosystem?

    And I don't think CrabLang will be allowed to just copy the Rust logo.

  • by toomuchtodo on 4/16/23, 5:52 PM

  • by muyuu on 4/16/23, 7:57 PM

    Is it ok to include the copyright message from Rust including references to Rust? https://github.com/crablang/crab/blob/master/COPYRIGHT

    What about attribution?

  • by bogwog on 4/16/23, 6:24 PM

    CrabLang - the world’s most unpolished programming language!

  • by apaxson on 4/17/23, 2:32 PM

    My favourite part is the PR to delete the entire repo.

  • by doodlesdev on 4/16/23, 6:29 PM

  • by wiz21c on 4/16/23, 6:19 PM

    FTA:

    > Our main goal is to ensure that the community has an alternative that aligns with their values and desire for unrestricted use.

    How is the use restricted nowadays ?

    Moreover, wouldn't it be better to help the gcc's rust front end ? GNU will protect the community for sure.

  • by zokier on 4/16/23, 8:16 PM

    "lighthearted" and has logo/mascot brandishing a knife not in a friendly way.

  • by bmacho on 4/16/23, 6:40 PM

    tl;dr: you can't announce your project on HN with "written in Rust" at the end of the title, but you can say "written in Crab" instead.

    That's it. Everyone loses, the Rust foundation, the Rust users, and the people who don't care about any of them.

  • by daviddever23box on 4/17/23, 12:33 AM

    You Rust folk are easily wound up.

  • by speed_spread on 4/16/23, 7:04 PM

    Raging Freedom Fighters overtaking that fork in 3,2,1...

  • by numeromancer on 4/16/23, 8:28 PM

    This project will be like a cancer for the rust community.

  • by Brian_K_White on 4/16/23, 7:34 PM

    It's too bad the name is so terrible. It would have been unlikely enough for a fork to go anywhere even without that.

    I might have tried "Trust".

  • by skrebbel on 4/16/23, 6:34 PM

    Am I the only one who feels like their stubborn insistence to not say which language they’re forking is just childish? What is this, Hogwarts?

    I recognize that the whole argument is trademark law and controlling the name “Rust”, but someone having a trademark doesn’t mean that outsiders aren’t allowed to say or write the name.

    Suggesting that this is the case, is exactly the kind of FUD they say they’re not after.