Temporary value dropped while borrowed in rust program - rust

In module db.rs , while reading the value from the DataBase, i got the Error temporary value dropped while borrowed
consider using a let binding to create a longer lived value
use bytes::Bytes;
use std::collections::HashMap;
use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
pub struct Db {
// pub entries: Arc<bool>,
pub entries: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<String, Bytes>>>,
}
impl Db {
pub fn new() -> Db {
Db {
entries: Arc::new(Mutex::new(HashMap::new())),
}
}
/// Reads data from the database
pub fn read(&mut self, arr: &[String]) -> Result<Bytes, &'static str> {
let key = &arr[1];
let query_result = self.entries.lock().unwrap().get(key);// Error in this Line.
if let Some(value) = query_result {
return Ok(Bytes::from("hello"));
} else {
return Err("no such key found");
}
}
}
but when i modify the code and trying to get the value in the next line, it didn't give any error.
let query_result = self.entries.lock().unwrap();
let result = query_result.get(key);
can anyone help me understand what's going on under the hood?

We can see why Rust thinks this is an error by checking how Mutex::lock works. If successful, it doesn't return a reference directly, it returns a MutexGuard struct that can deref into the type it wraps, a HashMap in your case.
The signature of Deref::deref<Target = T> is (with the elided lifetimes added):
fn deref<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a T
This means that the MutexGuard can only give us a reference to the HashMap inside for as long as it is itself alive (the lifetime 'a). But because you never store it anywhere, instead dereferencing it directly, Rust thinks that it gets dropped right after the call to get. But you keep the result of get around, which can only live for as long as the reference to the HashMap passed into it, which in turn only lives as long as the MutexGuard which gets dropped immediately.
If you store the MutexGuard, on the other hand, like
let guard = self.entries.lock().unwrap();
let query_result = guard.get(key);
it only gets dropped at the end of the scope, so any references it gave out are also valid until the end of the scope.

Related

Multiple Mutable Borrows from Struct Hashmap

Running into an ownership issue when attempting to reference multiple values from a HashMap in a struct as parameters in a function call. Here is a PoC of the issue.
use std::collections::HashMap;
struct Resource {
map: HashMap<String, String>,
}
impl Resource {
pub fn new() -> Self {
Resource {
map: HashMap::new(),
}
}
pub fn load(&mut self, key: String) -> &mut String {
self.map.get_mut(&key).unwrap()
}
}
fn main() {
// Initialize struct containing a HashMap.
let mut res = Resource {
map: HashMap::new(),
};
res.map.insert("Item1".to_string(), "Value1".to_string());
res.map.insert("Item2".to_string(), "Value2".to_string());
// This compiles and runs.
let mut value1 = res.load("Item1".to_string());
single_parameter(value1);
let mut value2 = res.load("Item2".to_string());
single_parameter(value2);
// This has ownership issues.
// multi_parameter(value1, value2);
}
fn single_parameter(value: &String) {
println!("{}", *value);
}
fn multi_parameter(value1: &mut String, value2: &mut String) {
println!("{}", *value1);
println!("{}", *value2);
}
Uncommenting multi_parameter results in the following error:
28 | let mut value1 = res.load("Item1".to_string());
| --- first mutable borrow occurs here
29 | single_parameter(value1);
30 | let mut value2 = res.load("Item2".to_string());
| ^^^ second mutable borrow occurs here
...
34 | multi_parameter(value1, value2);
| ------ first borrow later used here
It would technically be possible for me to break up the function calls (using the single_parameter function approach), but it would be more convenient to pass the
variables to a single function call.
For additional context, the actual program where I'm encountering this issue is an SDL2 game where I'm attempting to pass multiple textures into a single function call to be drawn, where the texture data may be modified within the function.
This is currently not possible, without resorting to unsafe code or interior mutability at least. There is no way for the compiler to know if two calls to load will yield mutable references to different data as it cannot always infer the value of the key. In theory, mutably borrowing both res.map["Item1"] and res.map["Item2"] would be fine as they would refer to different values in the map, but there is no way for the compiler to know this at compile time.
The easiest way to do this, as already mentioned, is to use a structure that allows interior mutability, like RefCell, which typically enforces the memory safety rules at run-time before returning a borrow of the wrapped value. You can also work around the borrow checker in this case by dealing with mut pointers in unsafe code:
pub fn load_many<'a, const N: usize>(&'a mut self, keys: [&str; N]) -> [&'a mut String; N] {
// TODO: Assert that keys are distinct, so that we don't return
// multiple references to the same value
keys.map(|key| self.load(key) as *mut _)
.map(|ptr| unsafe { &mut *ptr })
}
Rust Playground
The TODO is important, as this assertion is the only way to ensure that the safety invariant of only having one mutable reference to any value at any time is upheld.
It is, however, almost always better (and easier) to use a known safe interior mutation abstraction like RefCell rather than writing your own unsafe code.

Rust Double Reference Value

Looking through the blurz bluetooth library for Rust.
There is a variable declared with a value equal to a reference of a temp value(?).
This value is then passed into another function by reference.
How is ownership handled for a variable set to the value of a reference in a single statement and what does it mean to then use that reference as a reference?
Example:
let bt_session = &Session::create_session(None)?;
let adapter: Adapter = Adapter::init(bt_session)?;
adapter.set_powered(true)?;
let session = DiscoverySession::create_session(
&bt_session,
adapter.get_id()
)?;
See variable bt_session.
Source code example link.
A commented example to illustrate some concepts:
use rand;
#[derive(Debug)]
struct Struct {
id: i32
}
impl Drop for Struct {
fn drop(&mut self) {
// print when struct is dropped
println!("dropped {:?}", self);
}
}
fn rand_struct() -> Struct {
Struct { id: rand::random() }
}
/*
this does not compile:
fn rand_struct_ref<'a>() -> &'a Struct {
&rand_struct()
// struct dropped here so we can't return it to caller's scope
}
*/
fn takes_struct_ref(s: &Struct) {}
fn main() {
// brings struct into scope and immediately creates ref to it
// this is okay because the struct is not dropped until end of this scope
let s = &rand_struct();
println!("holding ref to {:?}", s);
// all these work because of deref coercion
takes_struct_ref(s);
takes_struct_ref(&s);
takes_struct_ref(&&s);
// struct dropped here
}
playground
To answer your first question: You can't return a reference from a function if the underlying value is dropped at the end of the function but it's okay to immediately make a reference to a returned value since that value lives for the rest of the caller's scope. You can see this in action if you run the above example, as holding ref to Struct { id: <id> } will get printed before dropped Struct { id: <id> }.
To answer your second question: the reason you can pass an &Struct or an &&Struct or an &&&Struct and so on to function which only takes an &Struct is because of a Rust syntax sugar feature called deref coercion which automatically derefs variables when they are used as function arguments or as part of method calls. In your shared code examples it looks like a ref of a ref is being passed to the function but actually it's just passing a single ref after auto deref coercion takes place.
See also
Why is it legal to borrow a temporary?
What are Rust's exact auto-dereferencing rules?

Rust lifetime for database connection bundle

I'm trying to design a struct to carry around a Postgres connection, transaction, and a bunch of prepared statements, and then execute the prepared statements repeatedly. But I'm running into lifetime problems. Here is what I've got:
extern crate postgres;
use postgres::{Connection, TlsMode};
use postgres::transaction::Transaction;
use postgres::stmt::Statement;
pub struct Db<'a> {
conn: Connection,
tx: Transaction<'a>,
insert_user: Statement<'a>,
}
fn make_db(url: &str) -> Db {
let conn = Connection::connect(url, TlsMode::None).unwrap();
let tx = conn.transaction().unwrap();
let insert_user = tx.prepare("INSERT INTO users VALUES ($1)").unwrap();
Db {
conn: conn,
tx: tx,
insert_user: insert_user,
}
}
pub fn main() {
let db = make_db("postgres://paul#localhost/t");
for u in &["foo", "bar"] {
db.insert_user.execute(&[&u]);
}
db.tx.commit().unwrap();
}
Here is the error I'm getting (on Rust 1.15.0 stable):
error: `conn` does not live long enough
--> src/main.rs:15:14
|
15 | let tx = conn.transaction().unwrap();
| ^^^^ does not live long enough
...
22 | }
| - borrowed value only lives until here
|
note: borrowed value must be valid for the anonymous lifetime #1 defined on the body at 13:28...
--> src/main.rs:13:29
|
13 | fn make_db(url: &str) -> Db {
| ^
I've read the Rust book (I've lost count how many times), but I'm not sure how to make progress here. Any suggestions?
EDIT: Thinking about this some more I still don't understand why in principle I can't tell Rust, "conn lives as long as Db does". The issue is with moving conn, but what if I don't move it? I understand why in C you can't return a pointer to stack-allocated memory, e.g.:
#include <stdio.h>
int *build_array() {
int ar[] = {1,2,3};
return ar;
}
int main() {
int *ar = build_array();
printf("%d\n", ar[1]);
}
And I get how that is similar to in Rust returning a &str or returning a vec slice.
But in Rust you can do this:
#[derive(Debug)]
struct S {
ar: Vec<i32>,
}
fn build_array() -> S {
let v = vec![1, 2, 3];
S { ar: v }
}
fn main() {
let s = build_array();
println!("{:?}", s);
}
And my understanding is that Rust is smart enough so that returning S doesn't actually require a move; essentially it is going straight to the caller's stack frame.
So I don't understand why it can't also put Db (including conn) in the caller's stack frame. Then no moves would be required, and tx would never hold an invalid address. I feel like Rust should be able to figure that out. I tried adding a lifetime hint, like this:
pub struct Db<'a> {
conn: Connection<'a>,
tx: Transaction<'a>,
insert_user: Statement<'a>,
}
But that gives an "unexpected lifetime parameter" error. I can accept that Rust can't follow the logic, but I'm curious if there is a reason why in principle it couldn't.
It does seem that putting conn on the heap should solve my problems, but I can't get this to work either:
pub struct Db<'a> {
conn: Box<Connection>,
tx: Transaction<'a>,
insert_user: Statement<'a>,
}
Even with a let conn = Box::new(Connection::connect(...));, Rust still tells me "conn does not live long enough". Is there some way to make this work with Box, or is that a dead end?
EDIT 2: I tried doing this with macros also, to avoid any extra stack frames:
extern crate postgres;
use postgres::{Connection, TlsMode};
use postgres::transaction::Transaction;
use postgres::stmt::Statement;
pub struct Db<'a> {
conn: Connection,
tx: Transaction<'a>,
insert_user: Statement<'a>,
}
macro_rules! make_db {
( $x:expr ) => {
{
let conn = Connection::connect($x, TlsMode::None).unwrap();
let tx = conn.transaction().unwrap();
let insert_user = tx.prepare("INSERT INTO users VALUES ($1)").unwrap();
Db {
conn: conn,
tx: tx,
insert_user: insert_user,
}
}
}
}
pub fn main() {
let db = make_db!("postgres://paul#localhost/t");
for u in &["foo", "bar"] {
db.insert_user.execute(&[&u]);
}
db.tx.commit().unwrap();
}
But that still tells me that conn does not live long enough. It seems that moving it into the struct should really not require any real RAM changes, but Rust still won't let me do it.
Starting with this function:
fn make_db(url: &str) -> Db {
unimplemented!()
}
Due to lifetime elision, this is equivalent to:
fn make_db<'a>(url: &'a str) -> Db<'a> {
unimplemented!()
}
That is, the lifetimes of all the references inside the Db struct must live as long as the string slice passed in. That only makes sense if the struct is holding on to the string slice.
To "solve" that, we can try to separate the lifetimes:
fn make_db<'a, 'b>(url: &'a str) -> Db<'b> {
unimplemented!()
}
Now this makes even less sense because now we are just making up a lifetime. Where is that 'b coming from? What happens if the caller of make_db decides that the concrete lifetime for the generic lifetime parameter 'b should be 'static? This is further explained in Why can't I store a value and a reference to that value in the same struct?, search for "something is really wrong with our creation function".
We also see the part of the question with "Sometimes, I'm not even taking a reference of the value" in the other question, which says in the answer:
the Child instance contains a reference to the Parent that created it,
If we check out the definition for Connection::transaction:
fn transaction<'a>(&'a self) -> Result<Transaction<'a>>
or the definition if you don't believe the docs:
pub struct Transaction<'conn> {
conn: &'conn Connection,
depth: u32,
savepoint_name: Option<String>,
commit: Cell<bool>,
finished: bool,
}
Yup, a Transaction keeps a reference to its parent Connection. Now that we see that Transaction has a reference to Connection we can return to the other question to see how to solve the problem: split apart the structs so that the nesting mirrors the lifetimes.
This was a very long-winded way of saying: no, you cannot create a single structure that contains a database and a transaction of that database due to the implementation of the postgres crate. Presumably the crate is implemented in this fashion for maximum performance.
I don't see why [returning Db<'b>] makes less sense. Normally when a function returns a thing, the thing lives as long as it is assigned to something. Why can't -> Db work the same way?
The entire point of references is that you don't own the referred-to value. You return Db and the caller of make_db would own that, but what owns the thing that Db is referring to? Where did it come from? You cannot return a reference to something local as that would violate all of Rust's safety rules. If you want to transfer ownership, you just do that.
See also
Is there any way to return a reference to a variable created in a function?
Return local String as a slice (&str)
Using the other answer, I put together working code that lets me bundle up the transaction and all the prepared statements, and pass them around together:
extern crate postgres;
use postgres::{Connection, TlsMode};
use postgres::transaction::Transaction;
use postgres::stmt::Statement;
pub struct Db<'a> {
tx: Transaction<'a>,
insert_user: Statement<'a>,
}
fn make_db(conn: &Connection) -> Db {
let tx = conn.transaction().unwrap();
let insert_user = tx.prepare("INSERT INTO users VALUES ($1)").unwrap();
Db {
tx: tx,
insert_user: insert_user,
}
}
pub fn main() {
let conn = Connection::connect("postgres://paul#localhost/t", TlsMode::None).unwrap();
let db = make_db(&conn);
for u in &["foo", "bar"] {
db.insert_user.execute(&[&u]);
}
db.tx.commit().unwrap();
}
As I understand it, Rust wants to guarantee that conn lives as long as db, so by keeping conn outside of the "constructor", the lexical structure ensures that it won't get removed too early.
My struct still doesn't encapsulate conn, which seems too bad to me, but at least it lets me keep everything else together.

Why does this variable definition imply static lifetime?

I'm trying to execute a function on chunks of a vector and then send the result back using the message passing library.
However, I get a strange error about the lifetime of the vector that isn't even participating in the thread operations:
src/lib.rs:153:27: 154:25 error: borrowed value does not live long enough
src/lib.rs:153 let extended_segments = (segment_size..max_val)
error: src/lib.rs:154 .collect::<Vec<_>>()borrowed value does not live long enough
note: reference must be valid for the static lifetime...:153
let extended_segments = (segment_size..max_val)
src/lib.rs:153:3: 155:27: 154 .collect::<Vec<_>>()
note: but borrowed value is only valid for the statement at 153:2:
reference must be valid for the static lifetime...
src/lib.rs:
let extended_segments = (segment_size..max_val)
consider using a `let` binding to increase its lifetime
I tried moving around the iterator and adding lifetimes to different places, but I couldn't get the checker to pass and still stay on type.
The offending code is below, based on the concurrency chapter in the Rust book. (Complete code is at github.)
use std::sync::mpsc;
use std::thread;
fn sieve_segment(a: &[usize], b: &[usize]) -> Vec<usize> {
vec![]
}
fn eratosthenes_sieve(val: usize) -> Vec<usize> {
vec![]
}
pub fn segmented_sieve_parallel(max_val: usize, mut segment_size: usize) -> Vec<usize> {
if max_val <= ((2 as i64).pow(16) as usize) {
// early return if the highest value is small enough (empirical)
return eratosthenes_sieve(max_val);
}
if segment_size > ((max_val as f64).sqrt() as usize) {
segment_size = (max_val as f64).sqrt() as usize;
println!("Segment size is larger than √{}. Reducing to {} to keep resource use down.",
max_val,
segment_size);
}
let small_primes = eratosthenes_sieve((max_val as f64).sqrt() as usize);
let mut big_primes = small_primes.clone();
let (tx, rx): (mpsc::Sender<Vec<usize>>, mpsc::Receiver<Vec<usize>>) = mpsc::channel();
let extended_segments = (segment_size..max_val)
.collect::<Vec<_>>()
.chunks(segment_size);
for this_segment in extended_segments.clone() {
let small_primes = small_primes.clone();
let tx = tx.clone();
thread::spawn(move || {
let sieved_segment = sieve_segment(&small_primes, this_segment);
tx.send(sieved_segment).unwrap();
});
}
for _ in 1..extended_segments.count() {
big_primes.extend(&rx.recv().unwrap());
}
big_primes
}
fn main() {}
How do I understand and avoid this error? I'm not sure how to make the lifetime of the thread closure static as in this question and still have the function be reusable (i.e., not main()). I'm not sure how to "consume all things that come into [the closure]" as mentioned in this question. And I'm not sure where to insert .map(|s| s.into()) to ensure that all references become moves, nor am I sure I want to.
When trying to reproduce a problem, I'd encourage you to create a MCVE by removing all irrelevant code. In this case, something like this seems to produce the same error:
fn segmented_sieve_parallel(max_val: usize, segment_size: usize) {
let foo = (segment_size..max_val)
.collect::<Vec<_>>()
.chunks(segment_size);
}
fn main() {}
Let's break that down:
Create an iterator between numbers.
Collect all of them into a Vec<usize>.
Return an iterator that contains references to the vector.
Since the vector isn't bound to any variable, it's dropped at the end of the statement. This would leave the iterator pointing to an invalid region of memory, so that's disallowed.
Check out the definition of slice::chunks:
fn chunks(&self, size: usize) -> Chunks<T>
pub struct Chunks<'a, T> where T: 'a {
// some fields omitted
}
The lifetime marker 'a lets you know that the iterator contains a reference to something. Lifetime elision has removed the 'a from the function, which looks like this, expanded:
fn chunks<'a>(&'a self, size: usize) -> Chunks<'a, T>
Check out this line of the error message:
help: consider using a let binding to increase its lifetime
You can follow that as such:
fn segmented_sieve_parallel(max_val: usize, segment_size: usize) {
let foo = (segment_size..max_val)
.collect::<Vec<_>>();
let bar = foo.chunks(segment_size);
}
fn main() {}
Although I'd write it as
fn segmented_sieve_parallel(max_val: usize, segment_size: usize) {
let foo: Vec<_> = (segment_size..max_val).collect();
let bar = foo.chunks(segment_size);
}
fn main() {}
Re-inserting this code back into your original problem won't solve the problem, but it will be much easier to understand. That's because you are attempting to pass a reference to thread::spawn, which may outlive the current thread. Thus, everything passed to thread::spawn must have the 'static lifetime. There are tons of questions that detail why that must be prevented and a litany of solutions, including scoped threads and cloning the vector.
Cloning the vector is the easiest, but potentially inefficient:
for this_segment in extended_segments.clone() {
let this_segment = this_segment.to_vec();
// ...
}

Why is a Cell used to create unmovable objects?

So I ran into this code snippet showing how to create "unmoveable" types in Rust - moves are prevented because the compiler treats the object as borrowed for its whole lifetime.
use std::cell::Cell;
use std::marker;
struct Unmovable<'a> {
lock: Cell<marker::ContravariantLifetime<'a>>,
marker: marker::NoCopy
}
impl<'a> Unmovable<'a> {
fn new() -> Unmovable<'a> {
Unmovable {
lock: Cell::new(marker::ContravariantLifetime),
marker: marker::NoCopy
}
}
fn lock(&'a self) {
self.lock.set(marker::ContravariantLifetime);
}
fn new_in(self_: &'a mut Option<Unmovable<'a>>) {
*self_ = Some(Unmovable::new());
self_.as_ref().unwrap().lock();
}
}
fn main(){
let x = Unmovable::new();
x.lock();
// error: cannot move out of `x` because it is borrowed
// let z = x;
let mut y = None;
Unmovable::new_in(&mut y);
// error: cannot move out of `y` because it is borrowed
// let z = y;
assert_eq!(std::mem::size_of::<Unmovable>(), 0)
}
I don't yet understand how this works. My guess is that the lifetime of the borrow-pointer argument is forced to match the lifetime of the lock field. The weird thing is, this code continues working in the same way if:
I change ContravariantLifetime<'a> to CovariantLifetime<'a>, or to InvariantLifetime<'a>.
I remove the body of the lock method.
But, if I remove the Cell, and just use lock: marker::ContravariantLifetime<'a> directly, as so:
use std::marker;
struct Unmovable<'a> {
lock: marker::ContravariantLifetime<'a>,
marker: marker::NoCopy
}
impl<'a> Unmovable<'a> {
fn new() -> Unmovable<'a> {
Unmovable {
lock: marker::ContravariantLifetime,
marker: marker::NoCopy
}
}
fn lock(&'a self) {
}
fn new_in(self_: &'a mut Option<Unmovable<'a>>) {
*self_ = Some(Unmovable::new());
self_.as_ref().unwrap().lock();
}
}
fn main(){
let x = Unmovable::new();
x.lock();
// does not error?
let z = x;
let mut y = None;
Unmovable::new_in(&mut y);
// does not error?
let z = y;
assert_eq!(std::mem::size_of::<Unmovable>(), 0)
}
Then the "Unmoveable" object is allowed to move. Why would that be?
The true answer is comprised of a moderately complex consideration of lifetime variancy, with a couple of misleading aspects of the code that need to be sorted out.
For the code below, 'a is an arbitrary lifetime, 'small is an arbitrary lifetime that is smaller than 'a (this can be expressed by the constraint 'a: 'small), and 'static is used as the most common example of a lifetime that is larger than 'a.
Here are the facts and steps to follow in the consideration:
Normally, lifetimes are contravariant; &'a T is contravariant with regards to 'a (as is T<'a> in the absence of any variancy markers), meaning that if you have a &'a T, it’s OK to substitute a longer lifetime than 'a, e.g. you can store in such a place a &'static T and treat it as though it were a &'a T (you’re allowed to shorten the lifetime).
In a few places, lifetimes can be invariant; the most common example is &'a mut T which is invariant with regards to 'a, meaning that if you have a &'a mut T, you cannot store a &'small mut T in it (the borrow doesn’t live long enough), but you also cannot store a &'static mut T in it, because that would cause trouble for the reference being stored as it would be forgotten that it actually lived for longer, and so you could end up with multiple simultaneous mutable references being created.
A Cell contains an UnsafeCell; what isn’t so obvious is that UnsafeCell is magic, being wired to the compiler for special treatment as the language item named “unsafe”. Importantly, UnsafeCell<T> is invariant with regards to T, for similar sorts of reasons to the invariance of &'a mut T with regards to 'a.
Thus, Cell<any lifetime variancy marker> will actually behave the same as Cell<InvariantLifetime<'a>>.
Furthermore, you don’t actually need to use Cell any more; you can just use InvariantLifetime<'a>.
Returning to the example with the Cell wrapping removed and a ContravariantLifetime (actually equivalent to just defining struct Unmovable<'a>;, for contravariance is the default as is no Copy implementation): why does it allow moving the value? … I must confess, I don’t grok this particular case yet and would appreciate some help myself in understanding why it’s allowed. It seems back to front, that covariance would allow the lock to be shortlived but that contravariance and invariance wouldn’t, but in practice it seems that only invariance is performing the desired function.
Anyway, here’s the final result. Cell<ContravariantLifetime<'a>> is changed to InvariantLifetime<'a> and that’s the only functional change, making the lock method function as desired, taking a borrow with an invariant lifetime. (Another solution would be to have lock take &'a mut self, for a mutable reference is, as already discussed, invariant; this is inferior, however, as it requires needless mutability.)
One other thing that needs mentioning: the contents of the lock and new_in methods are completely superfluous. The body of a function will never change the static behaviour of the compiler; only the signature matters. The fact that the lifetime parameter 'a is marked invariant is the key point. So the whole “construct an Unmovable object and call lock on it” part of new_in is completely superfluous. Similarly setting the contents of the cell in lock was a waste of time. (Note that it is again the invariance of 'a in Unmovable<'a> that makes new_in work, not the fact that it is a mutable reference.)
use std::marker;
struct Unmovable<'a> {
lock: marker::InvariantLifetime<'a>,
}
impl<'a> Unmovable<'a> {
fn new() -> Unmovable<'a> {
Unmovable {
lock: marker::InvariantLifetime,
}
}
fn lock(&'a self) { }
fn new_in(_: &'a mut Option<Unmovable<'a>>) { }
}
fn main() {
let x = Unmovable::new();
x.lock();
// This is an error, as desired:
let z = x;
let mut y = None;
Unmovable::new_in(&mut y);
// Yay, this is an error too!
let z = y;
}
An interesting problem! Here's my understanding of it...
Here's another example that doesn't use Cell:
#![feature(core)]
use std::marker::InvariantLifetime;
struct Unmovable<'a> { //'
lock: Option<InvariantLifetime<'a>>, //'
}
impl<'a> Unmovable<'a> {
fn lock_it(&'a mut self) { //'
self.lock = Some(InvariantLifetime)
}
}
fn main() {
let mut u = Unmovable { lock: None };
u.lock_it();
let v = u;
}
(Playpen)
The important trick here is that the structure needs to borrow itself. Once we have done that, it can no longer be moved because any move would invalidate the borrow. This isn't conceptually different from any other kind of borrow:
struct A(u32);
fn main() {
let a = A(42);
let b = &a;
let c = a;
}
The only thing is that you need some way of letting the struct contain its own reference, which isn't possible to do at construction time. My example uses Option, which requires &mut self and the linked example uses Cell, which allows for interior mutability and just &self.
Both examples use a lifetime marker because it allows the typesystem to track the lifetime without needing to worry about a particular instance.
Let's look at your constructor:
fn new() -> Unmovable<'a> { //'
Unmovable {
lock: marker::ContravariantLifetime,
marker: marker::NoCopy
}
}
Here, the lifetime put into lock is chosen by the caller, and it ends up being the normal lifetime of the Unmovable struct. There's no borrow of self.
Let's next look at your lock method:
fn lock(&'a self) {
}
Here, the compiler knows that the lifetime won't change. However, if we make it mutable:
fn lock(&'a mut self) {
}
Bam! It's locked again. This is because the compiler knows that the internal fields could change. We can actually apply this to our Option variant and remove the body of lock_it!

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