Stabilizing decade-old features (Folkert de Vries at RustWeek)

Folkert de Vries shares his journey of contributing to the Rust compiler and stabilizing long-unstable features.

Stabilizing decade-old features by Folkert de Vries. `error[E0658]: ᐸthe thing you needᐳ is unstable`, now what? This talk is about me deciding that I would stabilize some features that have been unstable for the better part of a decade. ...and then having to figure out how to actually do that. Along the way I got to know the rust compiler code base, its customs, and, perhaps most importantly, its people. Follow along and learn how to make contributions to the rust compiler that go beyond a one-off PR. About Folkert de Vries (he/him): At the Trifecta Tech Foundation I maintain zlib-rs and bzip2-rs. I am a co-maintainer of rust-lang/stdarch, and contribute to rustc and sometimes LLVM. When not behind a computer, I might be reading a book, learning a germanic language (try me!), or digging up a plant. - git: github.com/folkertdev - mastodon/fedi: hachyderm.io/@folkertdev This talk was given at RustWeek 2026 as part of the Compiler track on Tuesday 19 May. You can find a playlist of all talks in this track at youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Q1w7Ff68DAAvGHe77-pRAPdUfgC0P6b, and a playlist of all RustWeek 2026 talks at youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Q1w7Ff68DBpmF38rcIAf8Z9Gj2TnlgM For information about RustWeek 2027, go to 2027.rustweek.org. We hope to see you there!