Some people don't see the point of a Rust-based replacement for the core Unix/Linux command sudo, while others welcome the idea of a memory-safe version of sudo.

The New Stack is a publication covering trends and technologies in cloud-native development, DevOps, and software delivery. Developers can learn about containerization, Kubernetes, and cloud computing, as well as explore topics such as microservices architecture, serverless computing, and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.

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Ubuntu 26.04 will include sudo-rs, a Rust-based rewrite of the sudo command, alongside the traditional C implementation. The project aims to improve memory safety and maintainability while reducing codebase complexity. Developed through the Prossimo initiative and now maintained by the Trifecta Tech Foundation, sudo-rs collaborates closely with the original sudo maintainer Todd Miller. The rewrite focuses on supporting common use cases rather than replicating every legacy feature, with Canonical funding Ubuntu-specific compatibility work. The project has already been tested in Ubuntu 25.10 and is available as an option in several other distributions.

Why Sudo-rs Brings Modern Memory Safety to Ubuntu 26.04

The Motivation for Rewriting Sudo in Rust

Collaboration with the Original Sudo Maintainer

The ‘Less is More’ Design Philosophy of Sudo-rs

<p>Will it break things like the rust based GNU Tools replacement?</p>


<p>Every time I use sudo I always think “Damn I wonder how memory-safe this decades-old tool is?”. Glad they rewrote it in Rust.</p>
