This blog post explores how inline assembly and FFI calls fit into Rust's Abstract Machine, explaining that they cannot violate Rust's core safety guarantees like provenance and uninitialized memory. The author uses a storytelling approach to illustrate general principles, showing that even unsafe code must respect certain invariants to prevent undefined behavior. The discussion is relevant for understanding the semantics of unsafe Rust and foreign function interfaces.
Background
Rust's Abstract Machine defines semantics for safe code, but inline assembly and FFI calls introduce challenges as they allow executing non-Rust code. Understanding how these fit into Rust's memory and safety model is crucial for systems programming.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Mar 13, 2026 at 10:08 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10