How to Write an Operating System Kernel in Rust

Core
2026-04-17T12:05:42+00:00
Write a Rust OS kernel by disabling the standard library, defining a custom entry point, and configuring a linker script for bare-metal targets.

Writing an operating system kernel in Rust requires setting up a bare-metal project with a custom linker script and disabling the standard library. You must define a _start entry point, handle memory layout manually, and use #![no_std] to prevent linking the standard library.

#![no_std]
#![no_main]

use core::panic::PanicInfo;

#[no_mangle]
pub extern "C" fn _start() -> ! {
    loop {}
}

#[panic_handler]
fn panic(_info: &PanicInfo) -> ! {
    loop {}
}

Create a linker.ld file to define memory sections and set the entry point to _start. Configure your Cargo.toml to use the x86_64-unknown-none target and link the custom script. Build the project with cargo build --target x86_64-unknown-none and convert the output to a bootable image using objcopy.