What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

Vlazm · 2026-01-14 21:26:26

I heard the thing about the german government donating more then 500 thousand euros to fund the rust rewrite for arch linux package management. I just... don't really get it? Like I get the general idea behind rewriting something in rust. One can argue that it makes for a safer end product. The discussion should be held about something that works just fine on its own, but this is not even the main point of confusion.
Why on earth government would even consider donating such amounts of money to JUST make something safer??? It's a genuine question I do not imply anything because I lack the explanation to imply.

I am not german so I can't say for sure, but I don't think it's done because it's something regular german citizens were deeply concerned about, so is it the administrative decision? Like if they're gonna use arch in high security systems I could imagine how this may be a good move, however I still find this explanation to be strange (?) Why don't you actually hire people to do this job and just donate to non-profit... And why the humongous sum???

Just something that's been on my mind. Feel free to share your thoughts and insights

ayekat · 2026-01-14 21:34:42

I heard the thing

Would you have some link or reference?

--edit: Found it.

--edit 2: Ah, well, others were faster.

I read it more like the fund was going into ALPM in general, and one of the big topics there (made possible with a large donation) was a Rust rewrite.
Also, whether the average citizen is deeply concerned about a given specialised topic should IMO not be the main driver of whether something is worth funding.

--edit 3: And just looking at one specific case might not paint the full picture. https://www.sovereign.tech/tech is probably a good way to get an idea of what kind of projects get funding. IMO supporting a package manager of a distribution like Arch Linux doesn't seem that strange.

Last edited by ayekat (2026-01-14 21:48:42)

system72 · 2026-01-14 21:38:22

https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/arch-li … management

gromit · 2026-01-14 21:38:58

The initial post most likely is referencing the funding of the ALPM/VOA project in Arch through the Sovereign Tech Agency:

- https://devblog.archlinux.page/2026/a-y … m-project/
- https://devblog.archlinux.page/2026/ver … a-openpgp/

The Sovereign Tech Fund strives to fund Open Source ecosystems in general, see their mission statement:

With the Sovereign Tech Fund, we invest globally in the open software components that underpin Germany's and Europe's competitiveness and ability to innovate. By targeting core digital infrastructure, our investments scale across many sectors and benefit a broad range of users. Improving the security, stability, and reusability of open software components directly enhances the productivity, competitive edge, and capacity for innovation of startups and small and medium-sized businesses.

https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund

WorMzy · 2026-01-14 21:42:50

I guess you're talking about this?

I guess their about page will answer some, if not all, of your questions: https://www.sovereign.tech/about beyond that, you'll need to reach out to them, or the ALPM team directly (try David Runge).

Welp, took too long re-reading ML posts...

Last edited by WorMzy (2026-01-14 21:43:58)

Vlazm · 2026-01-14 21:53:25

Well, just never knew that such organisations do exist... Yeah, also from their website seems that they do more then this, like funding curl, OpenJS and such. I guess its just my general suspicion towards anything government-related. Thank yall for input

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-14 21:26:26

What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

#2 2026-01-14 21:34:42

Re: What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

#3 2026-01-14 21:38:22

Re: What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

#4 2026-01-14 21:38:58

Re: What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

#5 2026-01-14 21:42:50

Re: What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

#6 2026-01-14 21:53:25

Re: What's up with the German gov donating >500k on ALPM rust rewrite?

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