tldr: Rust/coreutils ( https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/ ) is now available in Debian, good enough to boot a Debian with GNOME, install the top 1000 packages, build Firefox, the Linux Kernel and LLVM/Clang. Even if I wrote more than 100 patches to achieve that, it will probably be a bumpy ride for many other use cases. It is also a terrific project to learn Rust. See the list of good first bugs