Support Windows kernel mode for driver development

[retep998]

Several people have approached me about this, and I definitely think this is an area Rust should try to support.

• Add targets for Windows kernel mode.
• Update cc to be able to locate kernel mode libraries instead of user mode libraries for those targets.
• Update winapi to link to kernel mode libraries instead of user mode libraries for those targets.
• ? libc ?
• ??? std ???

[bearmate]

Would this provide a panic=abort msvc-compatible libcore (and liballoc), making no_std windows development possible?

I could really use this for trying to convince my company to provide rust-bindings for our library.

[woodgear]

in fact we have use rust to write windows driver and deploy it in product env .here is example how we did that win_driver_example

[retep998]

@bearmate You already can do no_std development on Windows and use panic=abort.

[bearmate]

But as of now not with stable rust right? I tried some time ago, but had linker problems (#54137) and suspected that it is not possible, because of the pre-built libcore with unwinding enabled.

[netaneld122]

I believe that as long as this issue isn't properly handled in the Rust core libs, it's not safe to compile Rust Windows drivers (specifically for x86_32 systems).

[cdmistman]

with the May security patch of Windows last month, Windows is starting to drop 32-bit support, so I don't think 32-bit should be an issue anymore. Of course, it's up to the core team to decide whether this will be a roadblock or not...

[wwylele]

Has anything changed over the years that would make this easier to implement?