> I'd love QEMU to move to some safer language. Unfortunately I don't know any which meet the necessary criteria: - support linux, osx, windows - mature enough for widespread support in distros - support at least half a dozen different host cpu architectures - simply interoperable at a C ABI level so you can move parts of the system to the new language without doing a 100% rewrite

There is something to be said for replacing C and old C++ code with C++11 and the safer new constructs like std::unique_ptr. It doesn't stop you from doing unsafe things but it makes it much easier not to, without requiring a complete rewrite.