Problem with lifetimes and implementing Clone - rust

Question

I'm trying to define a struct representing a function that can be composed using different arithmetic operations (only addition has been implemented).
I would like to implement Clone for my struct, however I can't seem to it to work:
use std::ops::Add;
use std::boxed::Box;
use std::clone::Clone;
type InputT = i32;
type OutputT = f64;
pub struct ComposableFn<'a> {
f: Box<dyn 'a + Fn(InputT) -> OutputT>,
}
impl<'a> ComposableFn<'a> {
pub fn new<F: 'a + Fn(InputT) -> OutputT>(f: F) -> Self {
Self {
f: Box::new(f)
}
}
pub fn compute(&self, x: InputT) -> OutputT {
(self.f)(x)
}
}
impl<'a> Add<&'a ComposableFn<'a>> for &'a ComposableFn<'a> {
type Output = ComposableFn<'a>;
fn add(self, rhs: &'a ComposableFn) -> Self::Output {
ComposableFn::new(move |x| self.compute(x) + rhs.compute(x))
}
}
impl<'a> Clone for ComposableFn<'a> {
fn clone(&'a self) -> Self {
ComposableFn::new(move |x| self.compute(x))
}
}
fn main() {
let id = ComposableFn::new(|x| x.into());
println!("{}", id.compute(12));
let double = &id + &id;
println!("{}", double.compute(7));
let triple = &double + &id;
println!("{}", triple.compute(3));
}
When compiling I get the following error:
error[E0308]: method not compatible with trait
--> src/main.rs:33:5
|
33 | fn clone(&'a self) -> Self {
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ lifetime mismatch
|
= note: expected fn pointer `fn(&ComposableFn<'a>) -> ComposableFn<'_>`
found fn pointer `fn(&'a ComposableFn<'a>) -> ComposableFn<'_>`
note: the anonymous lifetime #1 defined on the method body at 33:5...
--> src/main.rs:33:5
|
33 | fn clone(&'a self) -> Self {
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
note: ...does not necessarily outlive the lifetime `'a` as defined on the impl at 32:6
--> src/main.rs:32:6
|
32 | impl<'a> Clone for ComposableFn<'a> {
| ^^
error: aborting due to previous error
Removing the 'a from fn clone(&'a self) results in the following error instead:
error[E0495]: cannot infer an appropriate lifetime due to conflicting requirements
--> src/main.rs:34:27
|
34 | ComposableFn::new(move |x| self.compute(x))
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
note: first, the lifetime cannot outlive the anonymous lifetime #1 defined on the method body at 33:5...
--> src/main.rs:33:5
|
33 | fn clone(&self) -> Self {
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
note: ...so that the types are compatible
--> src/main.rs:34:27
|
34 | ComposableFn::new(move |x| self.compute(x))
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
= note: expected `&ComposableFn<'_>`
found `&ComposableFn<'a>`
note: but, the lifetime must be valid for the lifetime `'a` as defined on the impl at 32:6...
--> src/main.rs:32:6
|
32 | impl<'a> Clone for ComposableFn<'a> {
| ^^
note: ...so that the expression is assignable
--> src/main.rs:34:9
|
34 | ComposableFn::new(move |x| self.compute(x))
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
= note: expected `ComposableFn<'a>`
found `ComposableFn<'_>`
error: aborting due to previous error
Is there a way to fix this?

Answer 1

You cannot implement Clone this way. Clone requires the return type to match exactly, which means the exact same lifetime 'a. But you're trying to make a clone that references self which has a different lifetime.
The straightforward solution would be to just clone f. Unfortunately, you can't clone a Box<dyn...>, at least not without some help. See: How to clone a struct storing a boxed trait object?
The only direct solution would be to swap Box out with Rc so they share ownership:
use std::rc::Rc;
pub struct ComposableFn<'a> {
f: Rc<dyn 'a + Fn(InputT) -> OutputT>,
}
impl Clone for ComposableFn<'_> {
fn clone(&self) -> Self {
ComposableFn { f: self.f.clone() }
}
}