It shares the code generator with gcc. It doesn't transpile C to Rust or vice versa. The goal is to produce machine code directly.
That would eliminate the need for Rust. Just imagine, if your C code can be converted into Rust, would there ever be a case to start a fresh project in Rust? It will permanently become an Intermediate language.
Converting C to Rust is not that hard. Converting C to safe Rust is the difficult part.
Rust without safety isn't Rust at all!
You’re right, sorry. I’ve been dealing too much with backends that my brain mixed up the words.
How would that make things any easier? The kernel supports being built with clang now, and there’s no issue linking an object built with another compiler into a module either.
Even if it is possible to build the kernel with clang, presumably that doesn't mean it is acceptable to suddenly require the kernel to be built with clang?