rfl-template

Project retired

This crate is no longer actively maintained. The repository has been archived and no additional development or support will occur.

I consent to the transfer of this crate to the first person who asks help@crates.io for it.

Thank you for any past interest and usage.

rfl-template

A CLI tool to scaffold Rust for Linux (RFL) kernel modules with proper boilerplate and conventions.

Features

• ✅ Generates complete kernel module structure
• ✅ Follows RFL conventions and best practices
• ✅ Includes proper SPDX headers and licensing
• ✅ Creates Kbuild integration files
• ✅ Validates module names
• ✅ Provides build instructions

Installation

cargo install --path .

Or build from source:

cargo build --release
# Binary will be in target/release/rfl-template

Usage

Create a New Module

rfl-template new my_driver \
  --author "Your Name" \
  --description "My awesome kernel driver" \
  --license "GPL-2.0"

Minimal Usage

rfl-template new my_driver

This will use default values:

• Author: "Unknown Author"
• Description: "A Rust for Linux kernel module"
• License: "GPL-2.0"

Generated Structure

my_driver/
├── Cargo.toml          # Rust package configuration
├── Kbuild              # Kernel build system integration
├── README.md           # Build and usage instructions
└── src/
    └── lib.rs         # Module implementation

Generated Code Example

The tool generates a basic kernel module with:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0

//! My awesome kernel driver

use kernel::prelude::*;

module! {
    type: MyDriver,
    name: "my_driver",
    author: "Your Name",
    description: "My awesome kernel driver",
    license: "GPL-2.0",
}

struct MyDriver;

impl kernel::Module for MyDriver {
    fn init(_module: &'static ThisModule) -> Result<Self> {
        pr_info!("my_driver: Module loaded\n");
        Ok(MyDriver)
    }
}

impl Drop for MyDriver {
    fn drop(&mut self) {
        pr_info!("my_driver: Module unloaded\n");
    }
}

Module Name Requirements

Module names must:

• Start with a lowercase letter
• Contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores
• Be valid Rust identifiers

Valid: my_driver, test_module, driver2
Invalid: MyDriver, my-driver, 2driver

Building Generated Modules

Generated modules require a Linux kernel source tree with Rust support enabled.

See the generated README.md in each module for detailed build instructions.

Options

Usage: rfl-template new <NAME> [OPTIONS]

Arguments:
  <NAME>  Name of the kernel module

Options:
  -a, --author <AUTHOR>            Author name
  -d, --description <DESCRIPTION>  Module description
  -l, --license <LICENSE>          License [default: GPL-2.0]
  -h, --help                       Print help

Supported Licenses

Common kernel-compatible licenses:

• GPL-2.0 (default)
• GPL-2.0-only
• GPL-2.0-or-later
• MIT
• Apache-2.0
• BSD-3-Clause

Examples

Character Device Driver

rfl-template new char_device \
  --author "John Doe" \
  --description "A character device driver" \
  --license "GPL-2.0"

Network Driver

rfl-template new net_driver \
  --author "Jane Smith" \
  --description "A network device driver"

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

Resources

• Rust for Linux
• RFL Documentation
• Linux Kernel Documentation

Made for the Rust for Linux community 🦀🐧

Author

• Ben Santora