I am attempting to write a simpler unit test runner for my Rust project. I have created a TestFixture trait that my test fixture structs will implement, similar to inheriting from the unit test base class in other testing frameworks. The trait is fairly simple. This is my test fixture
pub trait TestFixture {
fn setup(&mut self) -> () {}
fn teardown(&mut self) -> () {}
fn before_each(&mut self) -> () {}
fn after_each(&mut self) -> () {}
fn tests(&mut self) -> Vec<Box<Fn(&mut Self)>>
where Self: Sized {
Vec::new()
}
}
My test running function is as follows
pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture>(fixture: &mut T) {
fixture.setup();
let _r = fixture.tests().iter().map(|t| {
let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
fixture.before_each();
t(fixture);
fixture.after_each();
});
if let Err(_) = handle.join() {
println!("Test failed!")
}
});
fixture.teardown();
}
I get the error
src/tests.rs:73:22: 73:35 error: the trait `core::marker::Send` is not implemented for the type `T` [E0277]
src/tests.rs:73 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
note: in expansion of closure expansion
src/tests.rs:69:41: 84:6 note: expansion site
src/tests.rs:73:22: 73:35 note: `T` cannot be sent between threads safely
src/tests.rs:73 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
note: in expansion of closure expansion
src/tests.rs:69:41: 84:6 note: expansion site
src/tests.rs:73:22: 73:35 error: the trait `core::marker::Sync` is not implemented for the type `for<'r> core::ops::Fn(&'r mut T)` [E0277]
src/tests.rs:73 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
note: in expansion of closure expansion
src/tests.rs:69:41: 84:6 note: expansion site
src/tests.rs:73:22: 73:35 note: `for<'r> core::ops::Fn(&'r mut T)` cannot be shared between threads safely
src/tests.rs:73 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
note: in expansion of closure expansion
I have tried adding Arcs around the types being sent to the thread, no dice, same error.
pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture>(fixture: &mut T) {
fixture.setup();
let fix_arc = Arc::new(Mutex::new(fixture));
let _r = fixture.tests().iter().map(|t| {
let test_arc = Arc::new(Mutex::new(t));
let fix_arc_clone = fix_arc.clone();
let test_arc_clone = test_arc.clone();
let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
let thread_test = test_arc_clone.lock().unwrap();
let thread_fix = fix_arc_clone.lock().unwrap();
(*thread_fix).before_each();
(*thread_test)(*thread_fix);
(*thread_fix).after_each();
});
if let Err(_) = handle.join() {
println!("Test failed!")
}
});
fixture.teardown();
}
A sample test fixture would be something like
struct BuiltinTests {
pwd: PathBuf
}
impl TestFixture for BuiltinTests {
fn setup(&mut self) {
let mut pwd = env::temp_dir();
pwd.push("pwd");
fs::create_dir(&pwd);
self.pwd = pwd;
}
fn teardown(&mut self) {
fs::remove_dir(&self.pwd);
}
fn tests(&mut self) -> Vec<Box<Fn(&mut BuiltinTests)>> {
vec![Box::new(BuiltinTests::cd_with_no_args)]
}
}
impl BuiltinTests {
fn new() -> BuiltinTests {
BuiltinTests {
pwd: PathBuf::new()
}
}
}
fn cd_with_no_args(&mut self) {
let home = String::from("/");
env::set_var("HOME", &home);
let mut cd = Cd::new();
cd.run(&[]);
assert_eq!(env::var("PWD"), Ok(home));
}
#[test]
fn cd_tests() {
let mut builtin_tests = BuiltinTests::new();
test_fixture_runner(&mut builtin_tests);
}
My whole intention of using threads is isolation from the test runner. If a test fails an assertion it causes a panic which kills the runner. Thanks for any insight, I'm willing to change my design if that will fix the panic problem.
There are several problems with your code, I'll show you how to fix them one by one.
The first problem is that you're using map() to iterate over an iterator. It won't work correctly because map() is lazy - unless you consume the iterator, the closure you passed to it won't run. The correct way is to use for loop:
for t in fixture().tests().iter() {
Second, you're iterating the vector of closures by reference:
fixture.tests().iter().map(|t| {
iter() on a Vec<T> returns an iterator yielding items of type &T, so your t will be of type &Box<Fn(&mut Self)>. However, Box<Fn(&mut T)> does not implement Sync by default (it is a trait object which have no information about the underlying type except that you specified explicitly), so &Box<Fn(&mut T)> can't be used across multiple threads. That's what the second error you see is about.
Most likely you don't want to use these closures by reference; you probably want to move them to the spawned thread entirely. For this you need to use into_iter() instead of iter():
for t in fixture.tests().into_iter() {
Now t will be of type Box<Fn(&mut T)>. However, it still can't be sent across threads. Again, it is a trait object, and the compiler does not know if the type contained inside is Send. For this you need to add Send bound to the type of the closure:
fn tests(&mut self) -> Vec<Box<Fn(&mut Self)+Send>>
Now the error about Fn is gone.
The last error is about Send not being implemented for T. We need to add a Send bound on T:
pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture+Send>(fixture: &mut T) {
And now the error becomes more comprehensible:
test.rs:18:22: 18:35 error: captured variable `fixture` does not outlive the enclosing closure
test.rs:18 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~
note: in expansion of closure expansion
test.rs:18:5: 28:6 note: expansion site
test.rs:15:66: 31:2 note: captured variable is valid for the anonymous lifetime #1 defined on the block at 15:65
test.rs:15 pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture+Send>(fixture: &mut T) {
test.rs:16 fixture.setup();
test.rs:17
test.rs:18 for t in fixture.tests().into_iter() {
test.rs:19 let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
test.rs:20 fixture.before_each();
...
note: closure is valid for the static lifetime
This error happens because you're trying to use a reference in a spawn()ed thread. spawn() requires its closure argument to have 'static bound, that is, its captured environment must not contain references with non-'static lifetimes. But that's exactly what happens here - &mut T is not 'static. spawn() design does not prohibit avoiding joining, so it is explicitly written to disallow passing non-'static references to the spawned thread.
Note that while you're using &mut T, this error is unavoidable, even if you put &mut T in Arc, because then the lifetime of &mut T would be "stored" in Arc and so Arc<Mutex<&mut T>> also won't be 'static.
There are two ways to do what you want.
First, you can use the unstable thread::scoped() API. It is unstable because it is shown to allow memory unsafety in safe code, and the plan is to provide some kind of replacement for it in the future. However, you can use it in nightly Rust (it won't cause memory unsafety by itself, only in specifically crafted situations):
pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture+Send>(fixture: &mut T) {
fixture.setup();
let tests = fixture.lock().unwrap().tests();
for t in tests.into_iter() {
let f = &mut *fixture;
let handle = thread::scoped(move || {
f.before_each();
t(f);
f.after_each();
});
handle.join();
}
fixture.teardown();
}
This code compiles because scoped() is written in such a way that it guarantees (in most cases) that the thread won't outlive all captured references. I had to reborrow fixture because otherwise (because &mut references aren't copyable) it would be moved into the thread and fixture.teardown() would be prohibited. Also I had to extract tests variable because otherwise the mutex will be locked by the main thread for the duration of the for loop which would naturally disallow locking it in the child threads.
However, with scoped() you can't isolate the panic in the child thread. If the child thread panics, this panic will be rethrown from join() call. This may or may not be a problem in general, but I think it is a problem for your code.
Another way is to refactor your code to hold the fixture in Arc<Mutex<..>> from the beginning:
pub fn test_fixture_runner<T: TestFixture + Send + 'static>(fixture: Arc<Mutex<T>>) {
fixture.lock().unwrap().setup();
for t in fixture.lock().unwrap().tests().into_iter() {
let fixture = fixture.clone();
let handle = thread::spawn(move || {
let mut fixture = fixture.lock().unwrap();
fixture.before_each();
t(&mut *fixture);
fixture.after_each();
});
if let Err(_) = handle.join() {
println!("Test failed!")
}
}
fixture.lock().unwrap().teardown();
}
Note that now T has also to be 'static, again, because otherwise it couldn't be used with thread::spawn() as it requires 'static. fixture inside the inner closure is not &mut T but a MutexGuard<T>, and so it has to be explicitly converted to &mut T in order to pass it to t.
This may seem overly and unnecessarily complex, however, such design of a programming language does prevent you from making many errors in multithreaded programming. Each of the above errors we have seen is valid - each of them would be a potential cause of memory unsafety or data races if it was ignored.
As stated in the Rust HandBook's Concurrency section:
When a type T implements Send, it indicates to the compiler that something of this type is able to have ownership transferred safely between threads.
If you do not implement Send, ownership cannot be transfered between threads.
Related
I found this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/56436053/5884503 and I'm intersted in this part:
struct SlowData;
impl SlowData {
fn new(_initial: &str) -> SlowData {
thread::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1));
Self
}
fn next_block(&self) -> io::Result<&[u8]> {
thread::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1));
Ok(b"data")
}
}
fn stream(pool: ThreadPool) -> impl Stream<Item = io::Result<Vec<u8>>> {
let (mut tx, rx) = mpsc::channel(10);
pool.spawn(async move {
let sd = SlowData::new("dummy");
for _ in 0..3 {
let block = sd.next_block().map(|b| b.to_vec());
tx.send(block).await.expect("Unable to send block");
}
})
.expect("Unable to spawn thread");
rx
}
How is it possible that we can return -> io::Result<&[u8]>? The reference is owned by the function next_block, in Ok(b"data). You can see that it's created inside the function. How can the result be used outside of it? As I understood, in Rust, a reference cannot be copied, it can only be referenced, so I don't see how Ok(b"data") could copy the reference to its inside.
References are not owned, they point to owned data. However, constant strings are not owned by the the function they are in, they have 'static lifetime. As the function is just taking a self reference, the elided lifetime of the result borrow is implicitly that of the struct the function is called upon. And this is guaranteed to be less than or equal to 'static lifetime.
I think the lifetime of self is inferred for the slice. Actually the slice could have a static lifetime, but it is legal to narrow down lifetimes, so the elided lifetimes should be inferred as the same.
I have a struct which holds an Arc<Receiver<f32>> and I'm trying to add a method which takes ownership of self, and moves the ownership into a new thread and starts it. However, I'm getting the error
error[E0277]: the trait bound `std::sync::mpsc::Receiver<f32>: std::marker::Sync` is not satisfied
--> src/main.rs:19:9
|
19 | thread::spawn(move || {
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ `std::sync::mpsc::Receiver<f32>` cannot be shared between threads safely
|
= help: the trait `std::marker::Sync` is not implemented for `std::sync::mpsc::Receiver<f32>`
= note: required because of the requirements on the impl of `std::marker::Send` for `std::sync::Arc<std::sync::mpsc::Receiver<f32>>`
= note: required because it appears within the type `Foo`
= note: required because it appears within the type `[closure#src/main.rs:19:23: 22:10 self:Foo]`
= note: required by `std::thread::spawn`
If I change the struct to hold an Arc<i32> instead, or just a Receiver<f32>, it compiles, but not with a Arc<Receiver<f32>>. How does this work? The error doesn't make sense to me as I'm not trying to share it between threads (I'm moving it, not cloning it).
Here is the full code:
use std::sync::mpsc::{channel, Receiver, Sender};
use std::sync::Arc;
use std::thread;
pub struct Foo {
receiver: Arc<Receiver<f32>>,
}
impl Foo {
pub fn new() -> (Foo, Sender<f32>) {
let (sender, receiver) = channel::<f32>();
let sink = Foo {
receiver: Arc::new(receiver),
};
(sink, sender)
}
pub fn run_thread(self) -> thread::JoinHandle<()> {
thread::spawn(move || {
println!("Thread spawned by 'run_thread'");
self.run(); // <- This line gives the error
})
}
fn run(mut self) {
println!("Executing 'run'")
}
}
fn main() {
let (example, sender) = Foo::new();
let handle = example.run_thread();
handle.join();
}
How does this work?
Let's check the requirements of thread::spawn again:
pub fn spawn<F, T>(f: F) -> JoinHandle<T>
where
F: FnOnce() -> T,
F: Send + 'static, // <-- this line is important for us
T: Send + 'static,
Since Foo contains an Arc<Receiver<_>>, let's check if and how Arc implements Send:
impl<T> Send for Arc<T>
where
T: Send + Sync + ?Sized,
So Arc<T> implements Send if T implements Send and Sync. And while Receiver implements Send, it does not implement Sync.
So why does Arc have such strong requirements for T? T also has to implement Send because Arc can act like a container; if you could just hide something that doesn't implement Send in an Arc, send it to another thread and unpack it there... bad things would happen. The interesting part is to see why T also has to implement Sync, which is apparently also the part you are struggling with:
The error doesn't make sense to me as I'm not trying to share it between threads (I'm moving it, not cloning it).
The compiler can't know that the Arc in Foo is in fact not shared. Consider if you would add a #[derive(Clone)] to Foo later (which is possible without a problem):
fn main() {
let (example, sender) = Foo::new();
let clone = example.clone();
let handle = example.run_thread();
clone.run();
// oopsie, now the same `Receiver` is used from two threads!
handle.join();
}
In the example above there is only one Receiver which is shared between threads. And this is no good, since Receiver does not implement Sync!
To me this code raises the question: why the Arc in the first place? As you noticed, without the Arc, it works without a problem: you clearly state that Foo is the only owner of the Receiver. And if you are "not trying to share [the Receiver]" anyway, there is no point in having multiple owners.
I've been playing around with AudioUnit via Rust and the Rust library coreaudio-rs. Their example seems to work well:
extern crate coreaudio;
use coreaudio::audio_unit::{AudioUnit, IOType};
use coreaudio::audio_unit::render_callback::{self, data};
use std::f32::consts::PI;
struct Iter {
value: f32,
}
impl Iterator for Iter {
type Item = [f32; 2];
fn next(&mut self) -> Option<[f32; 2]> {
self.value += 440.0 / 44_100.0;
let amp = (self.value * PI * 2.0).sin() as f32 * 0.15;
Some([amp, amp])
}
}
fn main() {
run().unwrap()
}
fn run() -> Result<(), coreaudio::Error> {
// 440hz sine wave generator.
let mut samples = Iter { value: 0.0 };
//let buf: Vec<[f32; 2]> = vec![[0.0, 0.0]];
//let mut samples = buf.iter();
// Construct an Output audio unit that delivers audio to the default output device.
let mut audio_unit = try!(AudioUnit::new(IOType::DefaultOutput));
// Q: What is this type?
let callback = move |args| {
let Args { num_frames, mut data, .. } = args;
for i in 0..num_frames {
let sample = samples.next().unwrap();
for (channel_idx, channel) in data.channels_mut().enumerate() {
channel[i] = sample[channel_idx];
}
}
Ok(())
};
type Args = render_callback::Args<data::NonInterleaved<f32>>;
try!(audio_unit.set_render_callback(callback));
try!(audio_unit.start());
std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(30000));
Ok(())
}
However, changing it up a little bit to load via a buffer doesn't work as well:
extern crate coreaudio;
use coreaudio::audio_unit::{AudioUnit, IOType};
use coreaudio::audio_unit::render_callback::{self, data};
fn main() {
run().unwrap()
}
fn run() -> Result<(), coreaudio::Error> {
let buf: Vec<[f32; 2]> = vec![[0.0, 0.0]];
let mut samples = buf.iter();
// Construct an Output audio unit that delivers audio to the default output device.
let mut audio_unit = try!(AudioUnit::new(IOType::DefaultOutput));
// Q: What is this type?
let callback = move |args| {
let Args { num_frames, mut data, .. } = args;
for i in 0..num_frames {
let sample = samples.next().unwrap();
for (channel_idx, channel) in data.channels_mut().enumerate() {
channel[i] = sample[channel_idx];
}
}
Ok(())
};
type Args = render_callback::Args<data::NonInterleaved<f32>>;
try!(audio_unit.set_render_callback(callback));
try!(audio_unit.start());
std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(30000));
Ok(())
}
It says, correctly so, that buf only lives until the end of run and does not live long enough for the audio unit—which makes sense, because "borrowed value must be valid for the static lifetime...".
In any case, that doesn't bother me; I can modify the iterator to load and read from the buffer just fine. However, it does raise some questions:
Why does the Iter { value: 0.0 } have the 'static lifetime?
If it doesn't have the 'static lifetime, why does it say the borrowed value must be valid for the 'static lifetime?
If it does have the 'static lifetime, why? It seems like it would be on the heap and closed on by callback.
I understand that the move keyword allows moving inside the closure, which doesn't help me understand why it interacts with lifetimes. Why can't it move the buffer? Do I have to move both the buffer and the iterator into the closure? How would I do that?
Over all this, how do I figure out the expected lifetime without trying to be a compiler myself? It doesn't seem like guessing and compiling is always a straightforward method to resolving these issues.
Why does the Iter { value: 0.0 } have the 'static lifetime?
It doesn't; only references have lifetimes.
why does it say the borrowed value must be valid for the 'static lifetime
how do I figure out the expected lifetime without trying to be a compiler myself
Read the documentation; it tells you the restriction:
fn set_render_callback<F, D>(&mut self, f: F) -> Result<(), Error>
where
F: FnMut(Args<D>) -> Result<(), ()> + 'static, // <====
D: Data
This restriction means that any references inside of F must live at least as long as the 'static lifetime. Having no references is also acceptable.
All type and lifetime restrictions are expressed at the function boundary — this is a hard rule of Rust.
I understand that the move keyword allows moving inside the closure, which doesn't help me understand why it interacts with lifetimes.
The only thing that the move keyword does is force every variable directly used in the closure to be moved into the closure. Otherwise, the compiler tries to be conservative and move in references/mutable references/values based on the usage inside the closure.
Why can't it move the buffer?
The variable buf is never used inside the closure.
Do I have to move both the buffer and the iterator into the closure? How would I do that?
By creating the iterator inside the closure. Now buf is used inside the closure and will be moved:
let callback = move |args| {
let mut samples = buf.iter();
// ...
}
It doesn't seem like guessing and compiling is always a straightforward method to resolving these issues.
Sometimes it is, and sometimes you have to think about why you believe the code to be correct and why the compiler states it isn't and come to an understanding.
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();
// ...
}
Given
fn greet(peeps: &str) {
println!("Hello, {}", peeps);
}
I can do:
fn main() {
let a = "World";
thread::spawn(move || greet(a)).join().unwrap();
}
The compiler understands that the thread does not outlive the borrowed string, but this is merely a special case when the lifetime of the &str is known to be 'static. When I try to do the same with a function argument, it does not compile:
fn indirect(peeps: &str) {
thread::spawn(move || greet(&peeps)).join().unwrap();
// Does not compile, for fear that the thread may outlive peeps
}
However, to a human reader, it is obviously the case that the thread cannot outlive the borrowed string.
I have found two workarounds:
Make a copy of the string, which can be moved into the thread:
fn indirect(peeps: &str) {
let peeps = peeps.to_string();
thread::spawn(move || greet(&peeps)).join().unwrap();
}
or, make use of the famously deprecated thread::scoped:
#![feature(scoped)]
fn indirect_scoped(peeps: &str) {
thread::scoped(move || greet(&peeps)).join();
}
I don't want to specify 'static lifetime for the function parameter, I'd prefer not to make an unnecessary copy (workaround 1) and I'd prefer not to use deprecated features (workaround 2).
What should I do in this situation?
The approach with scoped() is the correct way when you want to pass borrowed data to child threads. While thread::scoped() itself is deprecated due to its unsoundness, an alternative sound APIs like crossbeam or scoped_threadpool provide a way to do this on stable Rust:
extern crate crossbeam;
fn indirect(peeps: &str) {
crossbeam::scope(|scope| {
scope.spawn(|| greet(peeps));
});
}