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update the docs for layout guarantees of option-like enums
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RalfJung committed Oct 9, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -295,49 +295,43 @@ apply, as described below.
#### Discriminant elision on Option-like enums
(Meta-note: The content in this section is not fully described by any RFC and is
therefore "non-normative". Parts of it were specified in
[rust-lang/rust#60300]).
[rust-lang/rust#60300]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/60300
(Meta-note: The content in this section have been turned into stable guarantees
[via this
FCP](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/130628#issuecomment-2402761599).).
**Definition.** An **option-like enum** is a 2-variant `enum` where:
- the `enum` has no explicit `#[repr(...)]`, and
- one variant has a single field, and
- the other variant has no fields (the "unit variant").
- one variant has a single field with a type that guarantees discriminant
elision (to be defined below), and
- the other variant has only 1-ZST fields (the "unit variant").
The simplest example is `Option<T>` itself, where the `Some` variant
has a single field (of type `T`), and the `None` variant has no
fields. But other enums that fit that same template fit.
fields. But other enums that fit that same template also qualify, e.g.
`Result<T, ()>` or `Result<(), T>`.
**Definition.** The **payload** of an option-like enum is the single
field which it contains; in the case of `Option<T>`, the payload has
type `T`.
**Definition.** In some cases, the payload type may contain illegal
values, which are called **[niches][niche]**. For example, a value of type `&T`
may never be `NULL`, and hence defines a [niche] consisting of the
bitstring `0`. Similarly, the standard library types [`NonZeroU8`]
and friends may never be zero, and hence also define the value of `0`
as a [niche].
[`NonZeroU8`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/num/struct.NonZeroU8.html
The [niche] values must be disjoint from the values allowed by the validity
invariant. The validity invariant is, as of this writing, the current active
discussion topic in the unsafe code guidelines process. [rust-lang/rust#60300]
specifies that the following types have at least one [niche] (the all-zeros
bit-pattern):
**Definition.** The following payload types have guaranteed discriminant
elision:
* `&T`
* `&mut T`
* `extern "C" fn`
* `Box<T>`
* `extern "ABI" fn` (for arbitrary "ABI")
* `core::num::NonZero*`
* `core::ptr::NonNull<T>`
* `#[repr(transparent)] struct` around one of the types in this list.
**Option-like enums where the payload defines at least one [niche] value
(Meta-note: all these types have at least one bit pattern that is guaranteed be
invalid, and can therefore be used as a "[niche]" when computing the enum layout.
More types have this property, but the *guarantee* described here only applies
to the types listed here.)
**Option-like enums where the payload has guaranteed discriminant elision
are guaranteed to be represented using the same memory layout as their
payload.** This is called **discriminant elision**, as there is no
explicit discriminant value stored anywhere. Instead, [niche] values are
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