The Unstable Book

Welcome to the Unstable Book! This book consists of a number of chapters, each one organized by a "feature flag." That is, when using an unstable feature of Rust, you must use a flag, like this:

#![feature(generators, generator_trait)]

use std::ops::{Generator, GeneratorState};
use std::pin::Pin;

fn main() {
    let mut generator = || {
        yield 1;
        return "foo"
    };

    match Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(()) {
        GeneratorState::Yielded(1) => {}
        _ => panic!("unexpected value from resume"),
    }
    match Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(()) {
        GeneratorState::Complete("foo") => {}
        _ => panic!("unexpected value from resume"),
    }
}

The generators feature has a chapter describing how to use it.

Because this documentation relates to unstable features, we make no guarantees that what is contained here is accurate or up to date. It's developed on a best-effort basis. Each page will have a link to its tracking issue with the latest developments; you might want to check those as well.

Compiler flags

`branch-protection`

This option lets you enable branch authentication instructions on AArch64. This option is only accepted when targeting AArch64 architectures. It takes some combination of the following values, separated by a ,.

pac-ret - Enable pointer authentication for non-leaf functions.
leaf - Enable pointer authentication for all functions, including leaf functions.
b-key - Sign return addresses with key B, instead of the default key A.
bti - Enable branch target identification.

leaf and b-key are only valid if pac-ret was previously specified. For example, -Z branch-protection=bti,pac-ret,leaf is valid, but -Z branch-protection=bti,leaf,pac-ret is not.

Rust's standard library does not ship with BTI or pointer authentication enabled by default. In Cargo projects the standard library can be recompiled with pointer authentication using the nightly build-std feature.

`cf-protection`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93754.

This option enables control-flow enforcement technology (CET) on x86; a more detailed description of CET is available here. Similar to clang, this flag takes one of the following values:

none - Disable CET completely (this is the default).
branch - Enable indirect branch tracking (IBT).
return - Enable shadow stack (SHSTK).
full - Enable both branch and return.

This flag only applies to the LLVM backend: it sets the cf-protection-branch and cf-protection-return flags on LLVM modules. Note, however, that all compiled modules linked together must have the flags set for the compiled output to be CET-enabled. Currently, Rust's standard library does not ship with CET enabled by default, so you may need to rebuild all standard modules with a cargo command like:

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Z cf-protection=full" cargo +nightly build -Z build-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Detection

An ELF binary is CET-enabled if it has the IBT and SHSTK tags, e.g.:

$ readelf -a target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/debug/example | grep feature:
      Properties: x86 feature: IBT, SHSTK

Troubleshooting

To display modules that are not CET enabled, examine the linker errors available when cet-report is enabled:

$ RUSTC_LOG=rustc_codegen_ssa::back::link=info rustc-custom -v -Z cf-protection=full -C link-arg="-Wl,-z,cet-report=warning" -o example example.rs
...
/usr/bin/ld: /.../build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib/libstd-d73f7266be14cb8b.rlib(std-d73f7266be14cb8b.std.f7443020-cgu.12.rcgu.o): warning: missing IBT and SHSTK properties

`check-cfg`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82450.

This feature allows you to enable complete or partial checking of configuration.

rustc accepts the --check-cfg option, which specifies whether to check conditions and how to check them. The --check-cfg option takes a value, called the check cfg specification. The check cfg specification is parsed using the Rust metadata syntax, just as the --cfg option is.

--check-cfg option can take one of two forms:

--check-cfg names(...) enables checking condition names.
--check-cfg values(...) enables checking the values within list-valued conditions.

These two options are independent. names checks only the namespace of condition names while values checks only the namespace of the values of list-valued conditions.

NOTE: No implicit expectation is added when using --cfg for both forms. Users are expected to pass all expected names and values using names(...) and values(...).

The `names(...)` form

The names(...) form enables checking the names. This form uses a named list:

rustc --check-cfg 'names(name1, name2, ... nameN)'

where each name is a bare identifier (has no quotes). The order of the names is not significant.

If --check-cfg names(...) is specified at least once, then rustc will check all references to condition names. rustc will check every #[cfg] attribute, #[cfg_attr] attribute, cfg clause inside #[link] attribute and cfg!(...) call against the provided list of expected condition names. If a name is not present in this list, then rustc will report an unexpected_cfgs lint diagnostic. The default diagnostic level for this lint is Warn.

If --check-cfg names(...) is not specified, then rustc will not check references to condition names.

--check-cfg names(...) may be specified more than once. The result is that the list of valid condition names is merged across all options. It is legal for a condition name to be specified more than once; redundantly specifying a condition name has no effect.

To enable checking condition names with an empty set of valid condition names, use the following form. The parentheses are required.

rustc --check-cfg 'names()'

Note that --check-cfg 'names()' is not equivalent to omitting the option entirely. The first form enables checking condition names, while specifying that there are no valid condition names (outside of the set of well-known names defined by rustc). Omitting the --check-cfg 'names(...)' option does not enable checking condition names.

The `values(...)` form

The values(...) form enables checking the values within list-valued conditions. It has this form:

rustc --check-cfg `values(name, "value1", "value2", ... "valueN")'

where name is a bare identifier (has no quotes) and each "value" term is a quoted literal string. name specifies the name of the condition, such as feature or target_os.

When the values(...) option is specified, rustc will check every #[cfg(name = "value")] attribute, #[cfg_attr(name = "value")] attribute, #[link(name = "a", cfg(name = "value"))] and cfg!(name = "value") call. It will check that the "value" specified is present in the list of expected values. If "value" is not in it, then rustc will report an unexpected_cfgs lint diagnostic. The default diagnostic level for this lint is Warn.

To enable checking of values, but to provide an empty set of valid values, use this form:

rustc --check-cfg `values(name)`

The --check-cfg values(...) option can be repeated, both for the same condition name and for different names. If it is repeated for the same condition name, then the sets of values for that condition are merged together.

If values() is specified, then rustc will enable the checking of well-known values defined by itself. Note that it's necessary to specify the values() form to enable the checking of well known values, specifying the other forms doesn't implicitly enable it.

Examples

Consider this command line:

rustc --check-cfg 'names(feature)' \
      --check-cfg 'values(feature, "lion", "zebra")' \
      --cfg 'feature="lion"' -Z unstable-options \
      example.rs

This command line indicates that this crate has two features: lion and zebra. The lion feature is enabled, while the zebra feature is disabled. Consider compiling this code:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// This is expected, and tame_lion() will be compiled
#[cfg(feature = "lion")]
fn tame_lion(lion: Lion) {}

// This is expected, and ride_zebra() will NOT be compiled.
#[cfg(feature = "zebra")]
fn ride_zebra(zebra: Zebra) {}

// This is UNEXPECTED, and will cause a compiler warning (by default).
#[cfg(feature = "platypus")]
fn poke_platypus() {}

// This is UNEXPECTED, because 'feechure' is not a known condition name,
// and will cause a compiler warning (by default).
#[cfg(feechure = "lion")]
fn tame_lion() {}
}

Note: The --check-cfg names(feature) option is necessary only to enable checking the condition name, as in the last example. feature is a well-known (always-expected) condition name, and so it is not necessary to specify it in a --check-cfg 'names(...)' option. That option can be shortened to > --check-cfg names() in order to enable checking well-known condition names.

Example: Checking condition names, but not values

# This turns on checking for condition names, but not values, such as 'feature' values.
rustc --check-cfg 'names(is_embedded, has_feathers)' \
      --cfg has_feathers -Z unstable-options

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[cfg(is_embedded)]         // This is expected as "is_embedded" was provided in names()
fn do_embedded() {}

#[cfg(has_feathers)]        // This is expected as "has_feathers" was provided in names()
fn do_features() {}

#[cfg(has_feathers = "zapping")] // This is expected as "has_feathers" was provided in names()
                                 // and because no value checking was enable for "has_feathers"
                                 // no warning is emitted for the value "zapping"
fn do_zapping() {}

#[cfg(has_mumble_frotz)]    // This is UNEXPECTED because names checking is enable and
                            // "has_mumble_frotz" was not provided in names()
fn do_mumble_frotz() {}
}

Example: Checking feature values, but not condition names

# This turns on checking for feature values, but not for condition names.
rustc --check-cfg 'values(feature, "zapping", "lasers")' \
      --cfg 'feature="zapping"' -Z unstable-options

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[cfg(is_embedded)]         // This is doesn't raise a warning, because names checking was not
                            // enable (ie not names())
fn do_embedded() {}

#[cfg(has_feathers)]        // Same as above, --check-cfg names(...) was never used so no name
                            // checking is performed
fn do_features() {}


#[cfg(feature = "lasers")]  // This is expected, "lasers" is in the values(feature) list
fn shoot_lasers() {}

#[cfg(feature = "monkeys")] // This is UNEXPECTED, because "monkeys" is not in the
                            // --check-cfg values(feature) list
fn write_shakespeare() {}
}

Example: Checking both condition names and feature values

# This turns on checking for feature values and for condition names.
rustc --check-cfg 'names(is_embedded, has_feathers)' \
      --check-cfg 'values(feature, "zapping", "lasers")' \
      --cfg has_feathers --cfg 'feature="zapping"' -Z unstable-options

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[cfg(is_embedded)]         // This is expected because "is_embedded" was provided in names()
fn do_embedded() {}

#[cfg(has_feathers)]        // This is expected because "has_feathers" was provided in names()
fn do_features() {}

#[cfg(has_mumble_frotz)]    // This is UNEXPECTED, because has_mumble_frotz is not in the
                            // --check-cfg names(...) list
fn do_mumble_frotz() {}

#[cfg(feature = "lasers")]  // This is expected, "lasers" is in the values(feature) list
fn shoot_lasers() {}

#[cfg(feature = "monkeys")] // This is UNEXPECTED, because "monkeys" is not in
                            // the values(feature) list
fn write_shakespeare() {}
}

`codegen-backend`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77933.

This feature allows you to specify a path to a dynamic library to use as rustc's code generation backend at runtime.

Set the -Zcodegen-backend=<path> compiler flag to specify the location of the backend. The library must be of crate type dylib and must contain a function named __rustc_codegen_backend with a signature of fn() -> Box<dyn rustc_codegen_ssa::traits::CodegenBackend>.

Example

See also the hotplug_codegen_backend test for a full example.

use rustc_codegen_ssa::traits::CodegenBackend;

struct MyBackend;

impl CodegenBackend for MyBackend {
   // Implement codegen methods
}

#[no_mangle]
pub fn __rustc_codegen_backend() -> Box<dyn CodegenBackend> {
    Box::new(MyBackend)
}

`control-flow-guard`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #68793.

The rustc flag -Z control-flow-guard enables the Windows Control Flow Guard (CFG) platform security feature.

CFG is an exploit mitigation designed to enforce control-flow integrity for software running on supported Windows platforms (Windows 8.1 onwards). Specifically, CFG uses runtime checks to validate the target address of every indirect call/jump before allowing the call to complete.

During compilation, the compiler identifies all indirect calls/jumps and adds CFG checks. It also emits metadata containing the relative addresses of all address-taken functions. At runtime, if the binary is run on a CFG-aware operating system, the loader uses the CFG metadata to generate a bitmap of the address space and marks those addresses that contain valid targets. On each indirect call, the inserted check determines whether the target address is marked in this bitmap. If the target is not valid, the process is terminated.

In terms of interoperability:

Code compiled with CFG enabled can be linked with libraries and object files that are not compiled with CFG. In this case, a CFG-aware linker can identify address-taken functions in the non-CFG libraries.
Libraries compiled with CFG can linked into non-CFG programs. In this case, the CFG runtime checks in the libraries are not used (i.e. the mitigation is completely disabled).

CFG functionality is completely implemented in the LLVM backend and is supported for X86 (32-bit and 64-bit), ARM, and Aarch64 targets. The rustc flag adds the relevant LLVM module flags to enable the feature. This flag will be ignored for all non-Windows targets.

When to use Control Flow Guard

The primary motivation for enabling CFG in Rust is to enhance security when linking against non-Rust code, especially C/C++ code. To achieve full CFG protection, all indirect calls (including any from Rust code) must have the appropriate CFG checks, as added by this flag. CFG can also improve security for Rust code that uses the unsafe keyword.

Another motivation behind CFG is to harden programs against return-oriented programming (ROP) attacks. CFG disallows an attacker from taking advantage of the program's own instructions while redirecting control flow in unexpected ways.

Overhead of Control Flow Guard

The CFG checks and metadata can potentially increase binary size and runtime overhead. The magnitude of any increase depends on the number and frequency of indirect calls. For example, enabling CFG for the Rust standard library increases binary size by approximately 0.14%. Enabling CFG in the SPEC CPU 2017 Integer Speed benchmark suite (compiled with Clang/LLVM) incurs approximate runtime overheads of between 0% and 8%, with a geometric mean of 2.9%.

Testing Control Flow Guard

The rustc flag -Z control-flow-guard=nochecks instructs LLVM to emit the list of valid call targets without inserting runtime checks. This flag should only be used for testing purposes as it does not provide security enforcement.

Control Flow Guard in libraries

It is strongly recommended to also enable CFG checks for all linked libraries, including the standard library.

To enable CFG in the standard library, use the cargo -Z build-std functionality to recompile the standard library with the same configuration options as the main program.

For example:

rustup toolchain install --force nightly
rustup component add rust-src
SET RUSTFLAGS=-Z control-flow-guard
cargo +nightly build -Z build-std --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

rustup toolchain install --force nightly
rustup component add rust-src
$Env:RUSTFLAGS = "-Z control-flow-guard"
cargo +nightly build -Z build-std --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

Alternatively, if you are building the standard library from source, you can set control-flow-guard = true in the config.toml file.

`debug-info-for-profiling`

Introduction

Automatic Feedback Directed Optimization (AFDO) is a method for using sampling based profiles to guide optimizations. This is contrasted with other methods of FDO or profile-guided optimization (PGO) which use instrumented profiling.

Unlike PGO (controlled by the rustc flags -Cprofile-generate and -Cprofile-use), a binary being profiled does not perform significantly worse, and thus it's possible to profile binaries used in real workflows and not necessary to construct artificial workflows.

Use

In order to use AFDO, the target platform must be Linux running on an x86_64 architecture with the performance profiler perf available. In addition, the external tool create_llvm_prof from this repository must be used.

Given a Rust file main.rs, we can produce an optimized binary as follows:

rustc -O -Zdebug-info-for-profiling main.rs -o main
perf record -b ./main
create_llvm_prof --binary=main --out=code.prof
rustc -O -Zprofile-sample-use=code.prof main.rs -o main2

The perf command produces a profile perf.data, which is then used by the create_llvm_prof command to create code.prof. This final profile is then used by rustc to guide optimizations in producing the binary main2.

`dump-mono-stats`

The -Z dump-mono-stats compiler flag generates a file with a list of the monomorphized items in the current crate. It is useful for investigating compile times.

It accepts an optional directory where the file will be located. If no directory is specified, the file will be placed in the current directory.

See also -Z dump-mono-stats-format and -Z print-mono-items. Unlike print-mono-items, dump-mono-stats aggregates monomorphized items by definition and includes a size estimate of how large the item is when codegened.

See https://rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org/backend/monomorph.html for an overview of monomorphized items.

`dump-mono-stats-format`

The -Z dump-mono-stats-format compiler flag controls what file format to use for -Z dump-mono-stats. The default is markdown; currently JSON is also supported. JSON can be useful for programmatically manipulating the results (e.g. to find the item that took the longest to compile).

`dwarf-version`

This option controls the version of DWARF that the compiler emits, on platforms that use DWARF to encode debug information. It takes one of the following values:

2: DWARF version 2 (the default on certain platforms, like macOS).
4: DWARF version 4 (the default on certain platforms, like Linux).
5: DWARF version 5.

`dylib-lto`

This option enables using LTO for the dylib crate type. This is currently only used for compiling rustc itself (more specifically, the librustc_driver dylib).

`emit-stack-sizes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54192

The rustc flag -Z emit-stack-sizes makes LLVM emit stack size metadata.

NOTE: This LLVM feature only supports the ELF object format as of LLVM 8.0. Using this flag with targets that use other object formats (e.g. macOS and Windows) will result in it being ignored.

Consider this crate:

#![crate_type = "lib"]

use std::ptr;

pub fn foo() {
    // this function doesn't use the stack
}

pub fn bar() {
    let xs = [0u32; 2];

    // force LLVM to allocate `xs` on the stack
    unsafe { ptr::read_volatile(&xs.as_ptr()); }
}

Using the -Z emit-stack-sizes flag produces extra linker sections in the output object file.

$ rustc -C opt-level=3 --emit=obj foo.rs

$ size -A foo.o
foo.o  :
section                                 size   addr
.text                                      0      0
.text._ZN3foo3foo17he211d7b4a3a0c16eE      1      0
.text._ZN3foo3bar17h1acb594305f70c2eE     22      0
.note.GNU-stack                            0      0
.eh_frame                                 72      0
Total                                     95

$ rustc -C opt-level=3 --emit=obj -Z emit-stack-sizes foo.rs

$ size -A foo.o
foo.o  :
section                                 size   addr
.text                                      0      0
.text._ZN3foo3foo17he211d7b4a3a0c16eE      1      0
.stack_sizes                               9      0
.text._ZN3foo3bar17h1acb594305f70c2eE     22      0
.stack_sizes                               9      0
.note.GNU-stack                            0      0
.eh_frame                                 72      0
Total                                    113

As of LLVM 7.0 the data will be written into a section named .stack_sizes and the format is "an array of pairs of function symbol values (pointer size) and stack sizes (unsigned LEB128)".

$ objdump -d foo.o

foo.o:     file format elf64-x86-64

Disassembly of section .text._ZN3foo3foo17he211d7b4a3a0c16eE:

0000000000000000 <_ZN3foo3foo17he211d7b4a3a0c16eE>:
   0:   c3                      retq

Disassembly of section .text._ZN3foo3bar17h1acb594305f70c2eE:

0000000000000000 <_ZN3foo3bar17h1acb594305f70c2eE>:
   0:   48 83 ec 10             sub    $0x10,%rsp
   4:   48 8d 44 24 08          lea    0x8(%rsp),%rax
   9:   48 89 04 24             mov    %rax,(%rsp)
   d:   48 8b 04 24             mov    (%rsp),%rax
  11:   48 83 c4 10             add    $0x10,%rsp
  15:   c3                      retq

$ objdump -s -j .stack_sizes foo.o

foo.o:     file format elf64-x86-64

Contents of section .stack_sizes:
 0000 00000000 00000000 00                 .........
Contents of section .stack_sizes:
 0000 00000000 00000000 10                 .........

It's important to note that linkers will discard this linker section by default. To preserve the section you can use a linker script like the one shown below.

/* file: keep-stack-sizes.x */
SECTIONS
{
  /* `INFO` makes the section not allocatable so it won't be loaded into memory */
  .stack_sizes (INFO) :
  {
    KEEP(*(.stack_sizes));
  }
}

The linker script must be passed to the linker using a rustc flag like -C link-arg.

// file: src/main.rs
use std::ptr;

#[inline(never)]
fn main() {
    let xs = [0u32; 2];

    // force LLVM to allocate `xs` on the stack
    unsafe { ptr::read_volatile(&xs.as_ptr()); }
}

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Z emit-stack-sizes" cargo build --release

$ size -A target/release/hello | grep stack_sizes || echo section was not found
section was not found

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Z emit-stack-sizes" cargo rustc --release -- \
    -C link-arg=-Wl,-Tkeep-stack-sizes.x \
    -C link-arg=-N

$ size -A target/release/hello | grep stack_sizes
.stack_sizes                               90   176272

$ # non-allocatable section (flags don't contain the "A" (alloc) flag)
$ readelf -S target/release/hello
Section Headers:
  [Nr]   Name              Type             Address           Offset
       Size              EntSize            Flags  Link  Info  Align
(..)
  [1031] .stack_sizes      PROGBITS         000000000002b090  0002b0f0
       000000000000005a  0000000000000000   L       5     0     1

$ objdump -s -j .stack_sizes target/release/hello

target/release/hello:     file format elf64-x86-64

Contents of section .stack_sizes:
 2b090 c0040000 00000000 08f00400 00000000  ................
 2b0a0 00080005 00000000 00000810 05000000  ................
 2b0b0 00000000 20050000 00000000 10400500  .... ........@..
 2b0c0 00000000 00087005 00000000 00000080  ......p.........
 2b0d0 05000000 00000000 90050000 00000000  ................
 2b0e0 00a00500 00000000 0000               ..........

Author note: I'm not entirely sure why, in this case, -N is required in addition to -Tkeep-stack-sizes.x. For example, it's not required when producing statically linked files for the ARM Cortex-M architecture.

`export-executable-symbols`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #84161.

The -Zexport-executable-symbols compiler flag makes rustc export symbols from executables. The resulting binary is runnable, but can also be used as a dynamic library. This is useful for interoperating with programs written in other languages, in particular languages with a runtime like Java or Lua.

For example on windows:

#[no_mangle]
fn my_function() -> usize {
    return 42;
}

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world!");
}

A standard cargo build will produce a .exe without an export directory. When the export-executable-symbols flag is added

export RUSTFLAGS="-Zexport-executable-symbols"
cargo build

the binary has an export directory with the functions:

The Export Tables (interpreted .edata section contents)

...

[Ordinal/Name Pointer] Table
    [   0] my_function
    [   1] main

(the output of objdump -x on the binary)

Please note that the #[no_mangle] attribute is required. Without it, the symbol is not exported.

The equivalent of this flag in C and C++ compilers is the __declspec(dllexport) annotation or the -rdynamic linker flag.

`--extern` Options

Tracking issue for --extern crate modifiers: #98405
Tracking issue for noprelude: #98398
Tracking issue for priv: #98399
Tracking issue for nounused: #98400
Tracking issue for force: #111302

The behavior of the --extern flag can be modified with noprelude, priv or nounused options.

This is unstable feature, so you have to provide -Zunstable-options to enable it.

Examples

Use your own build of the core crate.

rustc main.rs -Z unstable-options --extern noprelude:core=libcore.rlib

To use multiple options, separate them with a comma:

rustc main.rs -Z unstable-options --extern noprelude,priv,nounused:mydep=mydep.rlib

Options

noprelude: Do not add the crate to the external prelude. If used, it will need to be imported using extern crate. This is used by the build-std project to simulate compatibility with sysroot-only crates.
priv: Mark the crate as a private dependency for the exported_private_dependencies lint.
nounused: Suppress unused-crate-dependencies warnings for the crate.
force: Resolve the crate as if it is used, even if it is not used. This can be used to satisfy compilation session requirements like the presence of an allocator or panic handler.

`instrument-xray`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102921.

Enable generation of NOP sleds for XRay function tracing instrumentation. For more information on XRay, read LLVM documentation, and/or the XRay whitepaper.

Set the -Z instrument-xray compiler flag in order to enable XRay instrumentation.

-Z instrument-xray – use the default settings
-Z instrument-xray=skip-exit – configure a custom setting
-Z instrument-xray=ignore-loops,instruction-threshold=300 – multiple settings separated by commas

Supported options:

always – force instrumentation of all functions
never – do no instrument any functions
ignore-loops – ignore presence of loops, instrument functions based only on instruction count
instruction-threshold=10 – set a different instruction threshold for instrumentation
skip-entry – do no instrument function entry
skip-exit – do no instrument function exit

The default settings are:

instrument both entry & exit from functions
instrument functions with at least 200 instructions, or containing a non-trivial loop

Note that -Z instrument-xray only enables generation of NOP sleds which on their own don't do anything useful. In order to actually trace the functions, you will need to link a separate runtime library of your choice, such as Clang's XRay Runtime Library.

`link-native-libraries`

This option allows ignoring libraries specified in #[link] attributes instead of passing them to the linker. This can be useful in build systems that manage native libraries themselves and pass them manually, e.g. with -Clink-arg.

yes - Pass native libraries to the linker. Default.
no - Don't pass native libraries to the linker.

`location-detail`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #70580.

Option -Z location-detail=val controls what location details are tracked when using caller_location. This allows users to control what location details are printed as part of panic messages, by allowing them to exclude any combination of filenames, line numbers, and column numbers. This option is intended to provide users with a way to mitigate the size impact of #[track_caller].

This option supports a comma separated list of location details to be included. Valid options within this list are:

file - the filename of the panic will be included in the panic output
line - the source line of the panic will be included in the panic output
column - the source column of the panic will be included in the panic output

Any combination of these three options are supported. Alternatively, you can pass none to this option, which results in no location details being tracked. If this option is not specified, all three are included by default.

An example of a panic output when using -Z location-detail=line:

panicked at 'Process blink had a fault', <redacted>:323:0

The code size savings from this option are two-fold. First, the &'static str values for each path to a file containing a panic are removed from the binary. For projects with deep directory structures and many files with panics, this can add up. This category of savings can only be realized by excluding filenames from the panic output. Second, savings can be realized by allowing multiple panics to be fused into a single panicking branch. It is often the case that within a single file, multiple panics with the same panic message exist -- e.g. two calls to Option::unwrap() in a single line, or two calls to Result::expect() on adjacent lines. If column and line information are included in the Location struct passed to the panic handler, these branches cannot be fused, as the output is different depending on which panic occurs. However if line and column information is identical for all panics, these branches can be fused, which can lead to substantial code size savings, especially for small embedded binaries with many panics.

The savings from this option are amplified when combined with the use of -Zbuild-std, as otherwise paths for panics within the standard library are still included in your binary.

`move_size_limit`

The -Zmove-size-limit=N compiler flag enables large_assignments lints which will warn when moving objects whose size exceeds N bytes.

Lint warns only about moves in functions that participate in code generation. Consequently it will be ineffective for compiler invocation that emit metadata only, i.e., cargo check like workflows.

`no-parallel-llvm`

This flag disables parallelization of codegen and linking, while otherwise preserving behavior with regard to codegen units and LTO.

This flag is not useful for regular users, but it can be useful for debugging the backend. Codegen issues commonly only manifest under specific circumstances, e.g. if multiple codegen units are used and ThinLTO is enabled. Serialization of these threaded configurations makes the use of LLVM debugging facilities easier, by avoiding the interleaving of output.

`no-unique-section-names`

This flag currently applies only to ELF-based targets using the LLVM codegen backend. It prevents the generation of unique ELF section names for each separate code and data item when -Z function-sections is also in use, which is the default for most targets. This option can reduce the size of object files, and depending on the linker, the final ELF binary as well.

For example, a function func will by default generate a code section called .text.func. Normally this is fine because the linker will merge all those .text.* sections into a single one in the binary. However, starting with LLVM 12, the backend will also generate unique section names for exception handling, so you would see a section name of .gcc_except_table.func in the object file and potentially in the final ELF binary, which could add significant bloat to programs that contain many functions.

This flag instructs LLVM to use the same .text and .gcc_except_table section name for each function, and it is analogous to Clang's -fno-unique-section-names option.

`profile`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #42524.

This feature allows the generation of code coverage reports.

Set the -Zprofile compiler flag in order to enable gcov profiling.

For example:

cargo new testgcov --bin
cd testgcov
export RUSTFLAGS="-Zprofile -Ccodegen-units=1 -Copt-level=0 -Clink-dead-code -Coverflow-checks=off -Zpanic_abort_tests -Cpanic=abort"
export CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0
cargo build
cargo run

Once you've built and run your program, files with the gcno (after build) and gcda (after execution) extensions will be created. You can parse them with llvm-cov gcov or grcov.

Please note that RUSTFLAGS by default applies to everything that cargo builds and runs during a build! When the --target flag is explicitly passed to cargo, the RUSTFLAGS no longer apply to build scripts and procedural macros. For more fine-grained control consider passing a RUSTC_WRAPPER program to cargo that only adds the profiling flags to rustc for the specific crates you want to profile.

`profile-sample-use`

-Zprofile-sample-use=code.prof directs rustc to use the profile code.prof as a source for Automatic Feedback Directed Optimization (AFDO). See the documentation of -Zdebug-info-for-profiling for more information on using AFDO.

`remap-cwd-prefix`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87325.

This flag will rewrite absolute paths under the current working directory, replacing the current working directory prefix with a specified value.

The given value may be absolute or relative, or empty. This switch takes precedence over --remap-path-prefix in case they would both match a given path.

This flag helps to produce deterministic output, by removing the current working directory from build output, while allowing the command line to be universally reproducible, such that the same execution will work on all machines, regardless of build environment.

Example

# This would produce an absolute path to main.rs in build outputs of
# "./main.rs".
rustc -Z remap-cwd-prefix=. main.rs

`report-time`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64888

The report-time feature adds a possibility to report execution time of the tests generated via libtest.

This is unstable feature, so you have to provide -Zunstable-options to get this feature working.

Sample usage command:

./test_executable -Zunstable-options --report-time

Available options:

--report-time
                Show execution time of each test.
                Threshold values for colorized output can be
                configured via
                `RUST_TEST_TIME_UNIT`, `RUST_TEST_TIME_INTEGRATION`
                and
                `RUST_TEST_TIME_DOCTEST` environment variables.
                Expected format of environment variable is
                `VARIABLE=WARN_TIME,CRITICAL_TIME`.
                Not available for --format=terse
--ensure-time
                Treat excess of the test execution time limit as
                error.
                Threshold values for this option can be configured via
                `RUST_TEST_TIME_UNIT`, `RUST_TEST_TIME_INTEGRATION`
                and
                `RUST_TEST_TIME_DOCTEST` environment variables.
                Expected format of environment variable is
                `VARIABLE=WARN_TIME,CRITICAL_TIME`.
                `CRITICAL_TIME` here means the limit that should not be
                exceeded by test.

Example of the environment variable format:

RUST_TEST_TIME_UNIT=100,200

where 100 stands for warn time, and 200 stands for critical time.

Examples

cargo test --tests -- -Zunstable-options --report-time
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.02s
     Running target/debug/deps/example-27fb188025bec02c

running 3 tests
test tests::unit_test_quick ... ok <0.000s>
test tests::unit_test_warn ... ok <0.055s>
test tests::unit_test_critical ... ok <0.110s>

test result: ok. 3 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 0 filtered out

     Running target/debug/deps/tests-cedb06f6526d15d9

running 3 tests
test unit_test_quick ... ok <0.000s>
test unit_test_warn ... ok <0.550s>
test unit_test_critical ... ok <1.100s>

test result: ok. 3 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 0 filtered out

`sanitizer`

The tracking issues for this feature are:

#39699.
#89653.

This feature allows for use of one of following sanitizers:

AddressSanitizer a fast memory error detector.
ControlFlowIntegrity LLVM Control Flow Integrity (CFI) provides forward-edge control flow protection.
HWAddressSanitizer a memory error detector similar to AddressSanitizer, but based on partial hardware assistance.
KernelControlFlowIntegrity LLVM Kernel Control Flow Integrity (KCFI) provides forward-edge control flow protection for operating systems kernels.
LeakSanitizer a run-time memory leak detector.
MemorySanitizer a detector of uninitialized reads.
MemTagSanitizer fast memory error detector based on Armv8.5-A Memory Tagging Extension.
SafeStack provides backward-edge control flow protection by separating the stack into safe and unsafe regions.
ShadowCallStack provides backward-edge control flow protection (aarch64 only).
ThreadSanitizer a fast data race detector.

To enable a sanitizer compile with -Zsanitizer=address,-Zsanitizer=cfi, -Zsanitizer=hwaddress, -Zsanitizer=leak, -Zsanitizer=memory, -Zsanitizer=memtag, -Zsanitizer=shadow-call-stack, or -Zsanitizer=thread. You might also need the --target and build-std flags. Example:

$ RUSTFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=address cargo build -Zbuild-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

AddressSanitizer

AddressSanitizer is a memory error detector. It can detect the following types of bugs:

Out of bound accesses to heap, stack and globals
Use after free
Use after return (runtime flag ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_stack_use_after_return=1)
Use after scope
Double-free, invalid free
Memory leaks

The memory leak detection is enabled by default on Linux, and can be enabled with runtime flag ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=1 on macOS.

AddressSanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-apple-darwin
aarch64-unknown-fuchsia
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-apple-darwin
x86_64-unknown-fuchsia
x86_64-unknown-freebsd
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

AddressSanitizer works with non-instrumented code although it will impede its ability to detect some bugs. It is not expected to produce false positive reports.

See the Clang AddressSanitizer documentation for more details.

Examples

Stack buffer overflow:

fn main() {
    let xs = [0, 1, 2, 3];
    let _y = unsafe { *xs.as_ptr().offset(4) };
}

$ export RUSTFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=address RUSTDOCFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=address
$ cargo run -Zbuild-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
==37882==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: stack-buffer-overflow on address 0x7ffe400e6250 at pc 0x5609a841fb20 bp 0x7ffe400e6210 sp 0x7ffe400e6208
READ of size 4 at 0x7ffe400e6250 thread T0
    #0 0x5609a841fb1f in example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2 /.../src/main.rs:3:23
    ...

Address 0x7ffe400e6250 is located in stack of thread T0 at offset 48 in frame
    #0 0x5609a841f8af in example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2 /.../src/main.rs:1

  This frame has 1 object(s):
    [32, 48) 'xs' (line 2) <== Memory access at offset 48 overflows this variable
HINT: this may be a false positive if your program uses some custom stack unwind mechanism, swapcontext or vfork
      (longjmp and C++ exceptions *are* supported)
SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: stack-buffer-overflow /.../src/main.rs:3:23 in example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2
Shadow bytes around the buggy address:
  0x100048014bf0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
=>0x100048014c40: 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1 00 00[f3]f3 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c50: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c60: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c70: f1 f1 f1 f1 00 00 f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x100048014c80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1
  0x100048014c90: 00 00 f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Shadow byte legend (one shadow byte represents 8 application bytes):
  Addressable:           00
  Partially addressable: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
  Heap left redzone:       fa
  Freed heap region:       fd
  Stack left redzone:      f1
  Stack mid redzone:       f2
  Stack right redzone:     f3
  Stack after return:      f5
  Stack use after scope:   f8
  Global redzone:          f9
  Global init order:       f6
  Poisoned by user:        f7
  Container overflow:      fc
  Array cookie:            ac
  Intra object redzone:    bb
  ASan internal:           fe
  Left alloca redzone:     ca
  Right alloca redzone:    cb
  Shadow gap:              cc
==37882==ABORTING

Use of a stack object after its scope has already ended:

static mut P: *mut usize = std::ptr::null_mut();

fn main() {
    unsafe {
        {
            let mut x = 0;
            P = &mut x;
        }
        std::ptr::write_volatile(P, 123);
    }
}

$ export RUSTFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=address RUSTDOCFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=address
$ cargo run -Zbuild-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
=================================================================
==39249==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: stack-use-after-scope on address 0x7ffc7ed3e1a0 at pc 0x55c98b262a8e bp 0x7ffc7ed3e050 sp 0x7ffc7ed3e048
WRITE of size 8 at 0x7ffc7ed3e1a0 thread T0
    #0 0x55c98b262a8d in core::ptr::write_volatile::he21f1df5a82f329a /.../src/rust/src/libcore/ptr/mod.rs:1048:5
    #1 0x55c98b262cd2 in example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2 /.../src/main.rs:9:9
    ...

Address 0x7ffc7ed3e1a0 is located in stack of thread T0 at offset 32 in frame
    #0 0x55c98b262bdf in example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2 /.../src/main.rs:3

  This frame has 1 object(s):
    [32, 40) 'x' (line 6) <== Memory access at offset 32 is inside this variable
HINT: this may be a false positive if your program uses some custom stack unwind mechanism, swapcontext or vfork
      (longjmp and C++ exceptions *are* supported)
SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: stack-use-after-scope /.../src/rust/src/libcore/ptr/mod.rs:1048:5 in core::ptr::write_volatile::he21f1df5a82f329a
Shadow bytes around the buggy address:
  0x10000fd9fbe0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fbf0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fc00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1
  0x10000fd9fc10: f8 f8 f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fc20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
=>0x10000fd9fc30: f1 f1 f1 f1[f8]f3 f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fc40: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1
  0x10000fd9fc50: 00 00 f3 f3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fc60: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1 00 00 f3 f3
  0x10000fd9fc70: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  0x10000fd9fc80: 00 00 00 00 f1 f1 f1 f1 00 00 f3 f3 00 00 00 00
Shadow byte legend (one shadow byte represents 8 application bytes):
  Addressable:           00
  Partially addressable: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
  Heap left redzone:       fa
  Freed heap region:       fd
  Stack left redzone:      f1
  Stack mid redzone:       f2
  Stack right redzone:     f3
  Stack after return:      f5
  Stack use after scope:   f8
  Global redzone:          f9
  Global init order:       f6
  Poisoned by user:        f7
  Container overflow:      fc
  Array cookie:            ac
  Intra object redzone:    bb
  ASan internal:           fe
  Left alloca redzone:     ca
  Right alloca redzone:    cb
  Shadow gap:              cc
==39249==ABORTING

ControlFlowIntegrity

The LLVM Control Flow Integrity (CFI) support in the Rust compiler provides forward-edge control flow protection for both Rust-compiled code only and for C or C++ and Rust -compiled code mixed-language binaries, also known as “mixed binaries” (i.e., for when C or C++ and Rust -compiled code share the same virtual address space), by aggregating function pointers in groups identified by their return and parameter types.

LLVM CFI can be enabled with -Zsanitizer=cfi and requires LTO (i.e., -Clto). Cross-language LLVM CFI can be enabled with -Zsanitizer=cfi, and requires the -Zsanitizer-cfi-normalize-integers option to be used with Clang -fsanitize-cfi-icall-normalize-integers for normalizing integer types, and proper (i.e., non-rustc) LTO (i.e., -Clinker-plugin-lto).

See the Clang ControlFlowIntegrity documentation for more details.

Example

#![feature(naked_functions)]

use std::arch::asm;
use std::mem;

fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1
}

#[naked]
pub extern "C" fn add_two(x: i32) {
    // x + 2 preceded by a landing pad/nop block
    unsafe {
        asm!(
            "
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             nop
             lea eax, [edi+2]
             ret
        ",
            options(noreturn)
        );
    }
}

fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
    f(arg) + f(arg)
}

fn main() {
    let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);

    println!("The answer is: {}", answer);

    println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
    let f: fn(i32) -> i32 = unsafe {
        // Offsets 0-8 make it land in the landing pad/nop block, and offsets 1-8 are
        // invalid branch/call destinations (i.e., within the body of the function).
        mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>((add_two as *const u8).offset(5))
    };
    let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);

    println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}

Fig. 1. Modified example from the Advanced Functions and Closures chapter of the The Rust Programming Language book.

$ cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-1 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-1)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.76s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-1`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$

Fig. 2. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI disabled.

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Zsanitizer=cfi -Cembed-bitcode=yes -Clto" cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-1 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-1)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 3.39s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-1`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$

Fig. 3. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI enabled.

When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to change/hijack control flow using an indirect branch/call to an invalid destination, the execution is terminated (see Fig. 3).

use std::mem;

fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1
}

fn add_two(x: i32, _y: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 2
}

fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
    f(arg) + f(arg)
}

fn main() {
    let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);

    println!("The answer is: {}", answer);

    println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
    let f: fn(i32) -> i32 =
        unsafe { mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8) };
    let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);

    println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}

Fig. 4. Another modified example from the Advanced Functions and Closures chapter of the The Rust Programming Language book.

$ cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-2 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-2)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.76s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-2`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$

Fig. 5. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI disabled.

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Cembed-bitcode=yes -Clto -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-2 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-2)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 3.38s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-2`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$

Fig. 6. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI enabled.

When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to change/hijack control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different number of parameters than arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site, the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 6).

use std::mem;

fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1
}

fn add_two(x: i64) -> i64 {
    x + 2
}

fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
    f(arg) + f(arg)
}

fn main() {
    let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);

    println!("The answer is: {}", answer);

    println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
    let f: fn(i32) -> i32 =
        unsafe { mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8) };
    let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);

    println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}

Fig. 7. Another modified example from the Advanced Functions and Closures chapter of the The Rust Programming Language book.

$ cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-3 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-3)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.74s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-3`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$

Fig. 8. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI disabled.

$ RUSTFLAGS="-Cembed-bitcode=yes -Clto -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo run --release
   Compiling rust-cfi-3 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-3)
    Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 3.40s
     Running `target/release/rust-cfi-3`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$

Fig. 9. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI enabled.

int
do_twice(int (*fn)(int), int arg) {
    return fn(arg) + fn(arg);
}

Fig. 10. Example C library.

use std::mem;

#[link(name = "foo")]
extern "C" {
    fn do_twice(f: unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32;
}

unsafe extern "C" fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
    x + 1
}

unsafe extern "C" fn add_two(x: i64) -> i64 {
    x + 2
}

fn main() {
    let answer = unsafe { do_twice(add_one, 5) };

    println!("The answer is: {}", answer);

    println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
    let f: unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32 = unsafe {
        mem::transmute::<*const u8, unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8)
    };
    let next_answer = unsafe { do_twice(f, 5) };

    println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}

Fig. 11. Another modified example from the Advanced Functions and Closures chapter of the The Rust Programming Language book.

$ make
mkdir -p target/debug
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -flto -fvisibility=hidden -c -emit-llvm src/foo.c -o target/debug/libfoo.bc
llvm-ar rcs target/debug/libfoo.a target/debug/libfoo.bc
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/debug -Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld" cargo build
   Compiling main v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cross-cfi-1)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.45s
$ ./target/debug/main
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$

Fig. 12. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI disabled.

$ make
mkdir -p target/debug
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -flto -fvisibility=hidden -fsanitize=cfi -fsanitize-cfi-icall-normalize-integers -c -emit-llvm src/foo.c -o target/debug/libfoo.bc
llvm-ar rcs target/debug/libfoo.a target/debug/libfoo.bc
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/debug -Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi -Zsanitizer-cfi-normalize-integers" cargo build
   Compiling main v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cross-cfi-1)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.45s
$ ./target/debug/main
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$

Fig. 13. Build and execution of the modified example with LLVM CFI enabled.

When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to change/hijack control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site, even across the FFI boundary and for extern "C" function types indirectly called (i.e., callbacks/function pointers) across the FFI boundary, in C or C++ and Rust -compiled code mixed-language binaries, also known as “mixed binaries” (i.e., for when C or C++ and Rust -compiled code share the same virtual address space), the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 13).

HWAddressSanitizer

HWAddressSanitizer is a newer variant of AddressSanitizer that consumes much less memory.

HWAddressSanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-linux-android
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

HWAddressSanitizer requires tagged-globals target feature to instrument globals. To enable this target feature compile with -C target-feature=+tagged-globals

See the Clang HWAddressSanitizer documentation for more details.

Example

Heap buffer overflow:

fn main() {
    let xs = vec![0, 1, 2, 3];
    let _y = unsafe { *xs.as_ptr().offset(4) };
}

$ rustc main.rs -Zsanitizer=hwaddress -C target-feature=+tagged-globals -C
linker=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc -C link-arg=-fuse-ld=lld --target
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

$ ./main
==241==ERROR: HWAddressSanitizer: tag-mismatch on address 0xefdeffff0050 at pc 0xaaaae0ae4a98
READ of size 4 at 0xefdeffff0050 tags: 2c/00 (ptr/mem) in thread T0
    #0 0xaaaae0ae4a94  (/.../main+0x54a94)
    ...

[0xefdeffff0040,0xefdeffff0060) is a small allocated heap chunk; size: 32 offset: 16
0xefdeffff0050 is located 0 bytes to the right of 16-byte region [0xefdeffff0040,0xefdeffff0050)
allocated here:
    #0 0xaaaae0acb80c  (/.../main+0x3b80c)
    ...

Thread: T0 0xeffe00002000 stack: [0xffffc28ad000,0xffffc30ad000) sz: 8388608 tls: [0xffffaa10a020,0xffffaa10a7d0)
Memory tags around the buggy address (one tag corresponds to 16 bytes):
  0xfefcefffef80: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffef90: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffefa0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffefb0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffefc0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffefd0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffefe0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefcefffeff0: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
=>0xfefceffff000: d7  d7  05  00  2c [00] 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff010: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff020: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff030: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff040: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff050: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff060: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff070: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
  0xfefceffff080: 00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00  00
Tags for short granules around the buggy address (one tag corresponds to 16 bytes):
  0xfefcefffeff0: ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..
=>0xfefceffff000: ..  ..  8c  ..  .. [..] ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..
  0xfefceffff010: ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..
See https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HardwareAssistedAddressSanitizerDesign.html#short-granules for a description of short granule tags
Registers where the failure occurred (pc 0xaaaae0ae4a98):
    x0  2c00efdeffff0050  x1  0000000000000004  x2  0000000000000004  x3  0000000000000000
    x4  0000fffefc30ac37  x5  000000000000005d  x6  00000ffffc30ac37  x7  0000efff00000000
    x8  2c00efdeffff0050  x9  0200efff00000000  x10 0000000000000000  x11 0200efff00000000
    x12 0200effe00000310  x13 0200effe00000310  x14 0000000000000008  x15 5d00ffffc30ac360
    x16 0000aaaae0ad062c  x17 0000000000000003  x18 0000000000000001  x19 0000ffffc30ac658
    x20 4e00ffffc30ac6e0  x21 0000aaaae0ac5e10  x22 0000000000000000  x23 0000000000000000
    x24 0000000000000000  x25 0000000000000000  x26 0000000000000000  x27 0000000000000000
    x28 0000000000000000  x29 0000ffffc30ac5a0  x30 0000aaaae0ae4a98
SUMMARY: HWAddressSanitizer: tag-mismatch (/.../main+0x54a94)

KernelControlFlowIntegrity

The LLVM Kernel Control Flow Integrity (CFI) support to the Rust compiler initially provides forward-edge control flow protection for operating systems kernels for Rust-compiled code only by aggregating function pointers in groups identified by their return and parameter types. (See LLVM commit cff5bef "KCFI sanitizer".)

Forward-edge control flow protection for C or C++ and Rust -compiled code "mixed binaries" (i.e., for when C or C++ and Rust -compiled code share the same virtual address space) will be provided in later work by defining and using compatible type identifiers (see Type metadata in the design document in the tracking issue #89653).

LLVM KCFI can be enabled with -Zsanitizer=kcfi.

LLVM KCFI is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-linux-android
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-linux-android
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

See the Clang KernelControlFlowIntegrity documentation for more details.

KernelAddressSanitizer

KernelAddressSanitizer (KASAN) is a freestanding version of AddressSanitizer which is suitable for detecting memory errors in programs which do not have a runtime environment, such as operating system kernels. KernelAddressSanitizer requires manual implementation of the underlying functions used for tracking KernelAddressSanitizer state.

KernelAddressSanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-unknown-none
riscv64gc-unknown-none-elf
riscv64imac-unknown-none-elf
x86_64-unknown-none

See the Linux Kernel's KernelAddressSanitizer documentation for more details.

LeakSanitizer

LeakSanitizer is run-time memory leak detector.

LeakSanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-apple-darwin
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-apple-darwin
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

See the Clang LeakSanitizer documentation for more details.

MemorySanitizer

MemorySanitizer is detector of uninitialized reads.

MemorySanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-unknown-freebsd
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

MemorySanitizer requires all program code to be instrumented. C/C++ dependencies need to be recompiled using Clang with -fsanitize=memory option. Failing to achieve that will result in false positive reports.

See the Clang MemorySanitizer documentation for more details.

Example

Detecting the use of uninitialized memory. The -Zbuild-std flag rebuilds and instruments the standard library, and is strictly necessary for the correct operation of the tool. The -Zsanitizer-memory-track-origins enables tracking of the origins of uninitialized memory:

use std::mem::MaybeUninit;

fn main() {
    unsafe {
        let a = MaybeUninit::<[usize; 4]>::uninit();
        let a = a.assume_init();
        println!("{}", a[2]);
    }
}

$ export \
  RUSTFLAGS='-Zsanitizer=memory -Zsanitizer-memory-track-origins' \
  RUSTDOCFLAGS='-Zsanitizer=memory -Zsanitizer-memory-track-origins'
$ cargo clean
$ cargo run -Zbuild-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
==9416==WARNING: MemorySanitizer: use-of-uninitialized-value
    #0 0x560c04f7488a in core::fmt::num::imp::fmt_u64::haa293b0b098501ca $RUST/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/src/rust/src/libcore/fmt/num.rs:202:16
...
  Uninitialized value was stored to memory at
    #0 0x560c04ae898a in __msan_memcpy.part.0 $RUST/src/llvm-project/compiler-rt/lib/msan/msan_interceptors.cc:1558:3
    #1 0x560c04b2bf88 in memory::main::hd2333c1899d997f5 $CWD/src/main.rs:6:16

  Uninitialized value was created by an allocation of 'a' in the stack frame of function '_ZN6memory4main17hd2333c1899d997f5E'
    #0 0x560c04b2bc50 in memory::main::hd2333c1899d997f5 $CWD/src/main.rs:3

MemTagSanitizer

MemTagSanitizer detects a similar class of errors as AddressSanitizer and HardwareAddressSanitizer, but with lower overhead suitable for use as hardening for production binaries.

MemTagSanitizer is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-linux-android
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

MemTagSanitizer requires hardware support and the mte target feature. To enable this target feature compile with -C target-feature="+mte".

See the LLVM MemTagSanitizer documentation for more details.

SafeStack

SafeStack provides backward edge control flow protection by separating the stack into data which is only accessed safely (the safe stack) and all other data (the unsafe stack).

SafeStack can be enabled with the -Zsanitizer=safestack option and is supported on the following targets:

x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

See the Clang SafeStack documentation for more details.

ShadowCallStack

ShadowCallStack provides backward edge control flow protection by storing a function's return address in a separately allocated 'shadow call stack' and loading the return address from that shadow call stack.

ShadowCallStack requires a platform ABI which reserves x18 as the instrumentation makes use of this register.

ShadowCallStack can be enabled with -Zsanitizer=shadow-call-stack option and is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-linux-android

A runtime must be provided by the application or operating system.

See the Clang ShadowCallStack documentation for more details.

ThreadSanitizer

ThreadSanitizer is a data race detection tool. It is supported on the following targets:

aarch64-apple-darwin
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-apple-darwin
x86_64-unknown-freebsd
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

To work correctly ThreadSanitizer needs to be "aware" of all synchronization operations in a program. It generally achieves that through combination of library interception (for example synchronization performed through pthread_mutex_lock / pthread_mutex_unlock) and compile time instrumentation (e.g. atomic operations). Using it without instrumenting all the program code can lead to false positive reports.

ThreadSanitizer does not support atomic fences std::sync::atomic::fence, nor synchronization performed using inline assembly code.

See the Clang ThreadSanitizer documentation for more details.

Example

static mut A: usize = 0;

fn main() {
    let t = std::thread::spawn(|| {
        unsafe { A += 1 };
    });
    unsafe { A += 1 };

    t.join().unwrap();
}

$ export RUSTFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=thread RUSTDOCFLAGS=-Zsanitizer=thread
$ cargo run -Zbuild-std --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
==================
WARNING: ThreadSanitizer: data race (pid=10574)
  Read of size 8 at 0x5632dfe3d030 by thread T1:
    #0 example::main::_$u7b$$u7b$closure$u7d$$u7d$::h23f64b0b2f8c9484 ../src/main.rs:5:18 (example+0x86cec)
    ...

  Previous write of size 8 at 0x5632dfe3d030 by main thread:
    #0 example::main::h628ffc6626ed85b2 /.../src/main.rs:7:14 (example+0x868c8)
    ...
    #11 main <null> (example+0x86a1a)

  Location is global 'example::A::h43ac149ddf992709' of size 8 at 0x5632dfe3d030 (example+0x000000bd9030)

Instrumentation of external dependencies and std

The sanitizers to varying degrees work correctly with partially instrumented code. On the one extreme is LeakSanitizer that doesn't use any compile time instrumentation, on the other is MemorySanitizer that requires that all program code to be instrumented (failing to achieve that will inevitably result in false positives).

It is strongly recommended to combine sanitizers with recompiled and instrumented standard library, for example using cargo -Zbuild-std functionality.

Build scripts and procedural macros

Use of sanitizers together with build scripts and procedural macros is technically possible, but in almost all cases it would be best avoided. This is especially true for procedural macros which would require an instrumented version of rustc.

In more practical terms when using cargo always remember to pass --target flag, so that rustflags will not be applied to build scripts and procedural macros.

Symbolizing the Reports

Sanitizers produce symbolized stacktraces when llvm-symbolizer binary is in PATH.

Additional Information

`self-profile`

The -Zself-profile compiler flag enables rustc's internal profiler. When enabled, the compiler will output three binary files in the specified directory (or the current working directory if no directory is specified). These files can be analyzed by using the tools in the measureme repository.

To control the data recorded in the trace files, use the -Zself-profile-events flag.

For example:

First, run a compilation session and provide the -Zself-profile flag:

$ rustc --crate-name foo -Zself-profile

This will generate three files in the working directory such as:

foo-1234.events
foo-1234.string_data
foo-1234.string_index

Where foo is the name of the crate and 1234 is the process id of the rustc process.

To get a summary of where the compiler is spending its time:

$ ../measureme/target/release/summarize summarize foo-1234

To generate a flamegraph of the same data:

$ ../measureme/target/release/inferno foo-1234

To dump the event data in a Chromium-profiler compatible format:

$ ../measureme/target/release/crox foo-1234

For more information, consult the measureme documentation.

`self-profile-events`

The -Zself-profile-events compiler flag controls what events are recorded by the self-profiler when it is enabled via the -Zself-profile flag.

This flag takes a comma delimited list of event types to record.

For example:

$ rustc -Zself-profile -Zself-profile-events=default,args

Event types

query-provider
- Traces each query used internally by the compiler.
generic-activity
- Traces other parts of the compiler not covered by the query system.
query-cache-hit
- Adds tracing information that records when the in-memory query cache is "hit" and does not need to re-execute a query which has been cached.
- Disabled by default because this significantly increases the trace file size.
query-blocked
- Tracks time that a query tries to run but is blocked waiting on another thread executing the same query to finish executing.
- Query blocking only occurs when the compiler is built with parallel mode support.
incr-cache-load
- Tracks time that is spent loading and deserializing query results from the incremental compilation on-disk cache.
query-keys
- Adds a serialized representation of each query's query key to the tracing data.
- Disabled by default because this significantly increases the trace file size.
function-args
- Adds additional tracing data to some generic-activity events.
- Disabled by default for parity with query-keys.
llvm
- Adds tracing information about LLVM passes and codegeneration.
- Disabled by default because this significantly increases the trace file size.

Event synonyms

none
- Disables all events. Equivalent to the self-profiler being disabled.
default
- The default set of events which stikes a balance between providing detailed tracing data and adding additional overhead to the compilation.
args
- Equivalent to query-keys and function-args.
all
- Enables all events.

Examples

Enable the profiler and capture the default set of events (both invocations are equivalent):

$ rustc -Zself-profile
$ rustc -Zself-profile -Zself-profile-events=default

Enable the profiler and capture the default events and their arguments:

$ rustc -Zself-profile -Zself-profile-events=default,args

`src-hash-algorithm`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #70401.

The -Z src-hash-algorithm compiler flag controls which algorithm is used when hashing each source file. The hash is stored in the debug info and can be used by a debugger to verify the source code matches the executable.

Supported hash algorithms are: md5, sha1, and sha256. Note that not all hash algorithms are supported by all debug info formats.

By default, the compiler chooses the hash algorithm based on the target specification.

`temps-dir`

The -Ztemps-dir compiler flag specifies the directory to write the intermediate files in. If not set, the output directory is used. This option is useful if you are running more than one instance of rustc (e.g. with different --crate-type settings), and you need to make sure they are not overwriting each other's intermediate files. No files are kept unless -C save-temps=yes is also set.

`tiny-const-eval-limit`

The -Ztiny-const-eval-limit compiler flag sets a tiny, non-configurable limit for const eval. This flag should only be used by const eval tests in the rustc test suite.

`tls_model`

The tracking issue for this feature is: None.

Option -Z tls-model controls TLS model used to generate code for accessing #[thread_local] static items.

Supported values for this option are:

global-dynamic - General Dynamic TLS Model (alternatively called Global Dynamic) is the most general option usable in all circumstances, even if the TLS data is defined in a shared library loaded at runtime and is accessed from code outside of that library. This is the default for most targets.
local-dynamic - model usable if the TLS data is only accessed from the shared library or executable it is defined in. The TLS data may be in a library loaded after startup (via dlopen).
initial-exec - model usable if the TLS data is defined in the executable or in a shared library loaded at program startup. The TLS data must not be in a library loaded after startup (via dlopen).
local-exec - model usable only if the TLS data is defined directly in the executable, but not in a shared library, and is accessed only from that executable.

rustc and LLVM may use a more optimized model than specified if they know that we are producing an executable rather than a library, or that the static item is private enough.

`unsound-mir-opts`

The -Zunsound-mir-opts compiler flag enables MIR optimization passes which can cause unsound behavior. This flag should only be used by MIR optimization tests in the rustc test suite.

`virtual-function-elimination`

This option controls whether LLVM runs the Virtual Function Elimination (VFE) optimization. This optimization in only available with LTO, so this flag can only be passed if -Clto is also passed.

VFE makes it possible to remove functions from vtables that are never dynamically called by the rest of the code. Without this flag, LLVM makes the really conservative assumption, that if any function in a vtable is called, no function that is referenced by this vtable can be removed. With this flag additional information are given to LLVM, so that it can determine which functions are actually called and remove the unused functions.

Limitations

At the time of writing this flag may remove vtable functions too eagerly. One such example is in this code:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
trait Foo { fn foo(&self) { println!("foo") } }

impl Foo for usize {}

pub struct FooBox(Box<dyn Foo>);

pub fn make_foo() -> FooBox { FooBox(Box::new(0)) }

#[inline]
pub fn f(a: FooBox) { a.0.foo() }
}

In the above code the Foo trait is private, so an assumption is made that its functions can only be seen/called from the current crate and can therefore get optimized out, if unused. However, with make_foo you can produce a wrapped dyn Foo type outside of the current crate, which can then be used in f. Due to inlining of f, Foo::foo can then be called from a foreign crate. This can lead to miscompilations.

Language features

`aarch64_ver_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`abi_amdgpu_kernel`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51575

`abi_avr_interrupt`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69664

`abi_c_cmse_nonsecure_call`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #81391

The TrustZone-M feature is available for targets with the Armv8-M architecture profile (thumbv8m in their target name). LLVM, the Rust compiler and the linker are providing support for the TrustZone-M feature.

One of the things provided, with this unstable feature, is the C-cmse-nonsecure-call function ABI. This ABI is used on function pointers to non-secure code to mark a non-secure function call (see section 5.5 for details).

With this ABI, the compiler will do the following to perform the call:

save registers needed after the call to Secure memory
clear all registers that might contain confidential information
clear the Least Significant Bit of the function address
branches using the BLXNS instruction

To avoid using the non-secure stack, the compiler will constrain the number and type of parameters/return value.

The extern "C-cmse-nonsecure-call" ABI is otherwise equivalent to the extern "C" ABI.

#![no_std]
#![feature(abi_c_cmse_nonsecure_call)]

#[no_mangle]
pub fn call_nonsecure_function(addr: usize) -> u32 {
    let non_secure_function =
        unsafe { core::mem::transmute::<usize, extern "C-cmse-nonsecure-call" fn() -> u32>(addr) };
    non_secure_function()
}

$ rustc --emit asm --crate-type lib --target thumbv8m.main-none-eabi function.rs

call_nonsecure_function:
        .fnstart
        .save   {r7, lr}
        push    {r7, lr}
        .setfp  r7, sp
        mov     r7, sp
        .pad    #16
        sub     sp, #16
        str     r0, [sp, #12]
        ldr     r0, [sp, #12]
        str     r0, [sp, #8]
        b       .LBB0_1
.LBB0_1:
        ldr     r0, [sp, #8]
        push.w  {r4, r5, r6, r7, r8, r9, r10, r11}
        bic     r0, r0, #1
        mov     r1, r0
        mov     r2, r0
        mov     r3, r0
        mov     r4, r0
        mov     r5, r0
        mov     r6, r0
        mov     r7, r0
        mov     r8, r0
        mov     r9, r0
        mov     r10, r0
        mov     r11, r0
        mov     r12, r0
        msr     apsr_nzcvq, r0
        blxns   r0
        pop.w   {r4, r5, r6, r7, r8, r9, r10, r11}
        str     r0, [sp, #4]
        b       .LBB0_2
.LBB0_2:
        ldr     r0, [sp, #4]
        add     sp, #16
        pop     {r7, pc}

`abi_msp430_interrupt`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #38487

In the MSP430 architecture, interrupt handlers have a special calling convention. You can use the "msp430-interrupt" ABI to make the compiler apply the right calling convention to the interrupt handlers you define.

#![feature(abi_msp430_interrupt)]
#![no_std]

// Place the interrupt handler at the appropriate memory address
// (Alternatively, you can use `#[used]` and remove `pub` and `#[no_mangle]`)
#[link_section = "__interrupt_vector_10"]
#[no_mangle]
pub static TIM0_VECTOR: extern "msp430-interrupt" fn() = tim0;

// The interrupt handler
extern "msp430-interrupt" fn tim0() {
    // ..
}

$ msp430-elf-objdump -CD ./target/msp430/release/app
Disassembly of section __interrupt_vector_10:

0000fff2 <TIM0_VECTOR>:
    fff2:       00 c0           interrupt service routine at 0xc000

Disassembly of section .text:

0000c000 <int::tim0>:
    c000:       00 13           reti

`abi_ptx`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #38788

When emitting PTX code, all vanilla Rust functions (fn) get translated to "device" functions. These functions are not callable from the host via the CUDA API so a crate with only device functions is not too useful!

OTOH, "global" functions can be called by the host; you can think of them as the real public API of your crate. To produce a global function use the "ptx-kernel" ABI.

#![feature(abi_ptx)]
#![no_std]

pub unsafe extern "ptx-kernel" fn global_function() {
    device_function();
}

pub fn device_function() {
    // ..
}

$ xargo rustc --target nvptx64-nvidia-cuda --release -- --emit=asm

$ cat $(find -name '*.s')
//
// Generated by LLVM NVPTX Back-End
//

.version 3.2
.target sm_20
.address_size 64

        // .globl       _ZN6kernel15global_function17h46111ebe6516b382E

.visible .entry _ZN6kernel15global_function17h46111ebe6516b382E()
{


        ret;
}

        // .globl       _ZN6kernel15device_function17hd6a0e4993bbf3f78E
.visible .func _ZN6kernel15device_function17hd6a0e4993bbf3f78E()
{


        ret;
}

`abi_riscv_interrupt`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #111889

`abi_unadjusted`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`abi_vectorcall`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`abi_x86_interrupt`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #40180

`adt_const_params`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95174

`alloc_error_handler`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51540

`allocator_internals`

This feature does not have a tracking issue, it is an unstable implementation detail of the global_allocator feature not intended for use outside the compiler.

`allow_internal_unsafe`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`allow_internal_unstable`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`anonymous_lifetime_in_impl_trait`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`arbitrary_self_types`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44874

`arm_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`asm_const`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93332

This feature adds a const <expr> operand type to asm! and global_asm!.

<expr> must be an integer constant expression.
The value of the expression is formatted as a string and substituted directly into the asm template string.

`asm_experimental_arch`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93335

This feature tracks asm! and global_asm! support for the following architectures:

NVPTX
PowerPC
Hexagon
MIPS32r2 and MIPS64r2
wasm32
BPF
SPIR-V
AVR
MSP430
M68k
CSKY
s390x

Register classes

Architecture	Register class	Registers	LLVM constraint code
MIPS	`reg`	`$[2-25]`	`r`
MIPS	`freg`	`$f[0-31]`	`f`
NVPTX	`reg16`	None*	`h`
NVPTX	`reg32`	None*	`r`
NVPTX	`reg64`	None*	`l`
Hexagon	`reg`	`r[0-28]`	`r`
PowerPC	`reg`	`r[0-31]`	`r`
PowerPC	`reg_nonzero`	`r[1-31]`	`b`
PowerPC	`freg`	`f[0-31]`	`f`
PowerPC	`cr`	`cr[0-7]`, `cr`	Only clobbers
PowerPC	`xer`	`xer`	Only clobbers
wasm32	`local`	None*	`r`
BPF	`reg`	`r[0-10]`	`r`
BPF	`wreg`	`w[0-10]`	`w`
AVR	`reg`	`r[2-25]`, `XH`, `XL`, `ZH`, `ZL`	`r`
AVR	`reg_upper`	`r[16-25]`, `XH`, `XL`, `ZH`, `ZL`	`d`
AVR	`reg_pair`	`r3r2` .. `r25r24`, `X`, `Z`	`r`
AVR	`reg_iw`	`r25r24`, `X`, `Z`	`w`
AVR	`reg_ptr`	`X`, `Z`	`e`
MSP430	`reg`	`r[0-15]`	`r`
M68k	`reg`	`d[0-7]`, `a[0-7]`	`r`
M68k	`reg_data`	`d[0-7]`	`d`
M68k	`reg_addr`	`a[0-3]`	`a`
CSKY	`reg`	`r[0-31]`	`r`
CSKY	`freg`	`f[0-31]`	`f`
s390x	`reg`	`r[0-10]`, `r[12-14]`	`r`
s390x	`freg`	`f[0-15]`	`f`

Notes:

NVPTX doesn't have a fixed register set, so named registers are not supported.

WebAssembly doesn't have registers, so named registers are not supported.

Register class supported types

Architecture	Register class	Target feature	Allowed types
MIPS32	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `f32`
MIPS32	`freg`	None	`f32`, `f64`
MIPS64	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `i64`, `f32`, `f64`
MIPS64	`freg`	None	`f32`, `f64`
NVPTX	`reg16`	None	`i8`, `i16`
NVPTX	`reg32`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `f32`
NVPTX	`reg64`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `f32`, `i64`, `f64`
Hexagon	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `f32`
PowerPC	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`
PowerPC	`reg_nonzero`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`
PowerPC	`freg`	None	`f32`, `f64`
PowerPC	`cr`	N/A	Only clobbers
PowerPC	`xer`	N/A	Only clobbers
wasm32	`local`	None	`i8` `i16` `i32` `i64` `f32` `f64`
BPF	`reg`	None	`i8` `i16` `i32` `i64`
BPF	`wreg`	`alu32`	`i8` `i16` `i32`
AVR	`reg`, `reg_upper`	None	`i8`
AVR	`reg_pair`, `reg_iw`, `reg_ptr`	None	`i16`
MSP430	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`
M68k	`reg`, `reg_addr`	None	`i16`, `i32`
M68k	`reg_data`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`
CSKY	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`
CSKY	`freg`	None	`f32`,
s390x	`reg`	None	`i8`, `i16`, `i32`, `i64`
s390x	`freg`	None	`f32`, `f64`

Register aliases

Architecture	Base register	Aliases
Hexagon	`r29`	`sp`
Hexagon	`r30`	`fr`
Hexagon	`r31`	`lr`
BPF	`r[0-10]`	`w[0-10]`
AVR	`XH`	`r27`
AVR	`XL`	`r26`
AVR	`ZH`	`r31`
AVR	`ZL`	`r30`
MSP430	`r0`	`pc`
MSP430	`r1`	`sp`
MSP430	`r2`	`sr`
MSP430	`r3`	`cg`
MSP430	`r4`	`fp`
M68k	`a5`	`bp`
M68k	`a6`	`fp`
M68k	`a7`	`sp`, `usp`, `ssp`, `isp`
CSKY	`r[0-3]`	`a[0-3]`
CSKY	`r[4-11]`	`l[0-7]`
CSKY	`r[12-13]`	`t[0-1]`
CSKY	`r14`	`sp`
CSKY	`r15`	`lr`
CSKY	`r[16-17]`	`l[8-9]`
CSKY	`r[18-25]`	`t[2-9]`
CSKY	`r28`	`rgb`
CSKY	`r29`	`rtb`
CSKY	`r30`	`svbr`
CSKY	`r31`	`tls`

Notes:

TI does not mandate a frame pointer for MSP430, but toolchains are allowed to use one; LLVM uses r4.

Unsupported registers

Architecture	Unsupported register	Reason
All	`sp`, `r15` (s390x)	The stack pointer must be restored to its original value at the end of an asm code block.
All	`fr` (Hexagon), `$fp` (MIPS), `Y` (AVR), `r4` (MSP430), `a6` (M68k), `r11` (s390x)	The frame pointer cannot be used as an input or output.
All	`r19` (Hexagon)	This is used internally by LLVM as a "base pointer" for functions with complex stack frames.
MIPS	`$0` or `$zero`	This is a constant zero register which can't be modified.
MIPS	`$1` or `$at`	Reserved for assembler.
MIPS	`$26`/`$k0`, `$27`/`$k1`	OS-reserved registers.
MIPS	`$28`/`$gp`	Global pointer cannot be used as inputs or outputs.
MIPS	`$ra`	Return address cannot be used as inputs or outputs.
Hexagon	`lr`	This is the link register which cannot be used as an input or output.
AVR	`r0`, `r1`, `r1r0`	Due to an issue in LLVM, the `r0` and `r1` registers cannot be used as inputs or outputs. If modified, they must be restored to their original values before the end of the block.
MSP430	`r0`, `r2`, `r3`	These are the program counter, status register, and constant generator respectively. Neither the status register nor constant generator can be written to.
M68k	`a4`, `a5`	Used internally by LLVM for the base pointer and global base pointer.
CSKY	`r7`, `r28`	Used internally by LLVM for the base pointer and global base pointer.
CSKY	`r8`	Used internally by LLVM for the frame pointer.
CSKY	`r14`	Used internally by LLVM for the stack pointer.
CSKY	`r15`	This is the link register.
CSKY	`r[26-30]`	Reserved by its ABI.
CSKY	`r31`	This is the TLS register.

Template modifiers

Architecture	Register class	Modifier	Example output	LLVM modifier
MIPS	`reg`	None	`$2`	None
MIPS	`freg`	None	`$f0`	None
NVPTX	`reg16`	None	`rs0`	None
NVPTX	`reg32`	None	`r0`	None
NVPTX	`reg64`	None	`rd0`	None
Hexagon	`reg`	None	`r0`	None
PowerPC	`reg`	None	`0`	None
PowerPC	`reg_nonzero`	None	`3`	`b`
PowerPC	`freg`	None	`0`	None
s390x	`reg`	None	`%r0`	None
s390x	`freg`	None	`%f0`	None
CSKY	`reg`	None	`r0`	None
CSKY	`freg`	None	`f0`	None

Flags covered by `preserves_flags`

These flags registers must be restored upon exiting the asm block if the preserves_flags option is set:

AVR
- The status register SREG.
MSP430
- The status register r2.
M68k
- The condition code register ccr.
s390x
- The condition code register cc.

`asm_unwind`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93334

This feature adds a may_unwind option to asm! which allows an asm block to unwind stack and be part of the stack unwinding process. This option is only supported by the LLVM backend right now.

`associated_const_equality`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92827

`associated_type_bounds`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #52662

`associated_type_defaults`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29661

`async_closure`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #62290

`async_fn_in_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91611

`async_fn_track_caller`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110011

`auto_traits`

The tracking issue for this feature is #13231

The auto_traits feature gate allows you to define auto traits.

Auto traits, like Send or Sync in the standard library, are marker traits that are automatically implemented for every type, unless the type, or a type it contains, has explicitly opted out via a negative impl. (Negative impls are separately controlled by the negative_impls feature.)

impl !Trait for Type {}

Example:

#![feature(negative_impls)]
#![feature(auto_traits)]

auto trait Valid {}

struct True;
struct False;

impl !Valid for False {}

struct MaybeValid<T>(T);

fn must_be_valid<T: Valid>(_t: T) { }

fn main() {
    // works
    must_be_valid( MaybeValid(True) );

    // compiler error - trait bound not satisfied
    // must_be_valid( MaybeValid(False) );
}

Automatic trait implementations

When a type is declared as an auto trait, we will automatically create impls for every struct/enum/union, unless an explicit impl is provided. These automatic impls contain a where clause for each field of the form T: AutoTrait, where T is the type of the field and AutoTrait is the auto trait in question. As an example, consider the struct List and the auto trait Send:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
struct List<T> {
  data: T,
  next: Option<Box<List<T>>>,
}
}

Presuming that there is no explicit impl of Send for List, the compiler will supply an automatic impl of the form:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
struct List<T> {
  data: T,
  next: Option<Box<List<T>>>,
}

unsafe impl<T> Send for List<T>
where
  T: Send, // from the field `data`
  Option<Box<List<T>>>: Send, // from the field `next`
{ }
}

Explicit impls may be either positive or negative. They take the form:

impl<...> AutoTrait for StructName<..> { }
impl<...> !AutoTrait for StructName<..> { }

Coinduction: Auto traits permit cyclic matching

Unlike ordinary trait matching, auto traits are coinductive. This means, in short, that cycles which occur in trait matching are considered ok. As an example, consider the recursive struct List introduced in the previous section. In attempting to determine whether List: Send, we would wind up in a cycle: to apply the impl, we must show that Option<Box<List>>: Send, which will in turn require Box<List>: Send and then finally List: Send again. Under ordinary trait matching, this cycle would be an error, but for an auto trait it is considered a successful match.

Items

Auto traits cannot have any trait items, such as methods or associated types. This ensures that we can generate default implementations.

Supertraits

Auto traits cannot have supertraits. This is for soundness reasons, as the interaction of coinduction with implied bounds is difficult to reconcile.

`avx512_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`box_patterns`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29641

Box patterns let you match on Box<T>s:

#![feature(box_patterns)]

fn main() {
    let b = Some(Box::new(5));
    match b {
        Some(box n) if n < 0 => {
            println!("Box contains negative number {n}");
        },
        Some(box n) if n >= 0 => {
            println!("Box contains non-negative number {n}");
        },
        None => {
            println!("No box");
        },
        _ => unreachable!()
    }
}

`bpf_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`builtin_syntax`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110680

`c_str_literals`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #105723

`c_unwind`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74990

Introduces new ABI strings:

"C-unwind"
"cdecl-unwind"
"stdcall-unwind"
"fastcall-unwind"
"vectorcall-unwind"
"thiscall-unwind"
"aapcs-unwind"
"win64-unwind"
"sysv64-unwind"
"system-unwind"

These enable unwinding from other languages (such as C++) into Rust frames and from Rust into other languages.

See RFC 2945 for more information.

`c_variadic`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44930

The c_variadic language feature enables C-variadic functions to be defined in Rust. They may be called both from within Rust and via FFI.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(c_variadic)]

fn main() {
pub unsafe extern "C" fn add(n: usize, mut args: ...) -> usize {
    let mut sum = 0;
    for _ in 0..n {
        sum += args.arg::<usize>();
    }
    sum
}
}

`cfg_overflow_checks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #111466

`cfg_relocation_model`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #114929

`cfg_sanitize`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #39699

The cfg_sanitize feature makes it possible to execute different code depending on whether a particular sanitizer is enabled or not.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(cfg_sanitize)]

fn main() {
#[cfg(sanitize = "thread")]
fn a() {
    // ...
}

#[cfg(not(sanitize = "thread"))]
fn a() {
    // ...
}

fn b() {
    if cfg!(sanitize = "leak") {
        // ...
    } else {
        // ...
    }
}
}

`cfg_target_abi`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80970

`cfg_target_compact`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96901

`cfg_target_has_atomic`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94039

`cfg_target_has_atomic_equal_alignment`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93822

`cfg_target_thread_local`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29594

`cfg_version`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64796

The cfg_version feature makes it possible to execute different code depending on the compiler version. It will return true if the compiler version is greater than or equal to the specified version.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(cfg_version)]

fn main() {
#[cfg(version("1.42"))] // 1.42 and above
fn a() {
    // ...
}

#[cfg(not(version("1.42")))] // 1.41 and below
fn a() {
    // ...
}

fn b() {
    if cfg!(version("1.42")) {
        // ...
    } else {
        // ...
    }
}
}

`cfi_encoding`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89653

The cfi_encoding feature allows the user to define a CFI encoding for a type. It allows the user to use a different names for types that otherwise would be required to have the same name as used in externally defined C functions.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(cfi_encoding, extern_types)]

fn main() {
#[cfi_encoding = "3Foo"]
pub struct Type1(i32);

extern {
    #[cfi_encoding = "3Bar"]
    type Type2;
}
}

`closure_lifetime_binder`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #97362

`closure_track_caller`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87417

Allows using the #[track_caller] attribute on closures and generators. Calls made to the closure or generator will have caller information available through std::panic::Location::caller(), just like using #[track_caller] on a function.

`cmse_nonsecure_entry`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75835

One of the things provided, with this unstable feature, is the cmse_nonsecure_entry attribute. This attribute marks a Secure function as an entry function (see section 5.4 for details). With this attribute, the compiler will do the following:

add a special symbol on the function which is the __acle_se_ prefix and the standard function name
constrain the number of parameters to avoid using the Non-Secure stack
before returning from the function, clear registers that might contain Secure information
use the BXNS instruction to return

Because the stack can not be used to pass parameters, there will be compilation errors if:

the total size of all parameters is too big (for example more than four 32 bits integers)
the entry function is not using a C ABI

The special symbol __acle_se_ will be used by the linker to generate a secure gateway veneer.

#![feature(cmse_nonsecure_entry)]

#[no_mangle]
#[cmse_nonsecure_entry]
pub extern "C" fn entry_function(input: u32) -> u32 {
    input + 6
}

$ rustc --emit obj --crate-type lib --target thumbv8m.main-none-eabi function.rs
$ arm-none-eabi-objdump -D function.o

00000000 <entry_function>:
   0:   b580            push    {r7, lr}
   2:   466f            mov     r7, sp
   4:   b082            sub     sp, #8
   6:   9001            str     r0, [sp, #4]
   8:   1d81            adds    r1, r0, #6
   a:   460a            mov     r2, r1
   c:   4281            cmp     r1, r0
   e:   9200            str     r2, [sp, #0]
  10:   d30b            bcc.n   2a <entry_function+0x2a>
  12:   e7ff            b.n     14 <entry_function+0x14>
  14:   9800            ldr     r0, [sp, #0]
  16:   b002            add     sp, #8
  18:   e8bd 4080       ldmia.w sp!, {r7, lr}
  1c:   4671            mov     r1, lr
  1e:   4672            mov     r2, lr
  20:   4673            mov     r3, lr
  22:   46f4            mov     ip, lr
  24:   f38e 8800       msr     CPSR_f, lr
  28:   4774            bxns    lr
  2a:   f240 0000       movw    r0, #0
  2e:   f2c0 0000       movt    r0, #0
  32:   f240 0200       movw    r2, #0
  36:   f2c0 0200       movt    r2, #0
  3a:   211c            movs    r1, #28
  3c:   f7ff fffe       bl      0 <_ZN4core9panicking5panic17h5c028258ca2fb3f5E>
  40:   defe            udf     #254    ; 0xfe

`collapse_debuginfo`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #100758

`compiler_builtins`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`const_async_blocks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85368

`const_closures`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #106003

`const_extern_fn`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64926

`const_fn_floating_point_arithmetic`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #57241

`const_for`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87575

`const_mut_refs`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #57349

`const_precise_live_drops`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #73255

`const_refs_to_cell`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80384

`const_trait_impl`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67792

`const_try`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74935

`coverage_attribute`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #84605

The coverage attribute can be used to selectively disable coverage instrumentation in an annotated function. This might be useful to:

Avoid instrumentation overhead in a performance critical function
Avoid generating coverage for a function that is not meant to be executed, but still target 100% coverage for the rest of the program.

Example

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(coverage_attribute)]

fn main() {
// `foo()` will get coverage instrumentation (by default)
fn foo() {
  // ...
}

#[coverage(off)]
fn bar() {
  // ...
}
}

`csky_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`custom_code_classes_in_docs`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79483

`custom_inner_attributes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54726

`custom_mir`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`custom_test_frameworks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #50297

The custom_test_frameworks feature allows the use of #[test_case] and #![test_runner]. Any function, const, or static can be annotated with #[test_case] causing it to be aggregated (like #[test]) and be passed to the test runner determined by the #![test_runner] crate attribute.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(custom_test_frameworks)]
#![test_runner(my_runner)]

fn main() {
fn my_runner(tests: &[&i32]) {
    for t in tests {
        if **t == 0 {
            println!("PASSED");
        } else {
            println!("FAILED");
        }
    }
}

#[test_case]
const WILL_PASS: i32 = 0;

#[test_case]
const WILL_FAIL: i32 = 4;
}

`decl_macro`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #39412

`default_type_parameter_fallback`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27336

`deprecated_safe`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94978

`deprecated_suggestion`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94785

`diagnostic_namespace`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #111996

`do_not_recommend`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51992

`doc_auto_cfg`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43781

`doc_cfg`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43781

The doc_cfg feature allows an API be documented as only available in some specific platforms. This attribute has two effects:

In the annotated item's documentation, there will be a message saying "Available on (platform) only".
The item's doc-tests will only run on the specific platform.

In addition to allowing the use of the #[doc(cfg)] attribute, this feature enables the use of a special conditional compilation flag, #[cfg(doc)], set whenever building documentation on your crate.

This feature was introduced as part of PR #43348 to allow the platform-specific parts of the standard library be documented.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(doc_cfg)]

fn main() {
#[cfg(any(windows, doc))]
#[doc(cfg(windows))]
/// The application's icon in the notification area (a.k.a. system tray).
///
/// # Examples
///
/// ```no_run
/// extern crate my_awesome_ui_library;
/// use my_awesome_ui_library::current_app;
/// use my_awesome_ui_library::windows::notification;
///
/// let icon = current_app().get::<notification::Icon>();
/// icon.show();
/// icon.show_message("Hello");
/// ```
pub struct Icon {
    // ...
}
}

`doc_cfg_hide`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43781

`doc_masked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44027

The doc_masked feature allows a crate to exclude types from a given crate from appearing in lists of trait implementations. The specifics of the feature are as follows:

When rustdoc encounters an extern crate statement annotated with a #[doc(masked)] attribute, it marks the crate as being masked.
When listing traits a given type implements, rustdoc ensures that traits from masked crates are not emitted into the documentation.
When listing types that implement a given trait, rustdoc ensures that types from masked crates are not emitted into the documentation.

This feature was introduced in PR #44026 to ensure that compiler-internal and implementation-specific types and traits were not included in the standard library's documentation. Such types would introduce broken links into the documentation.

`doc_notable_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #45040

The doc_notable_trait feature allows the use of the #[doc(notable_trait)] attribute, which will display the trait in a "Notable traits" dialog for functions returning types that implement the trait. For example, this attribute is applied to the Iterator, Future, io::Read, and io::Write traits in the standard library.

You can do this on your own traits like so:

#![feature(doc_notable_trait)]

#[doc(notable_trait)]
pub trait MyTrait {}

pub struct MyStruct;
impl MyTrait for MyStruct {}

/// The docs for this function will have a button that displays a dialog about
/// `MyStruct` implementing `MyTrait`.
pub fn my_fn() -> MyStruct { MyStruct }

This feature was originally implemented in PR #45039.

See also its documentation in the rustdoc book.

`dropck_eyepatch`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #34761

`dyn_star`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102425

`effects`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102090

`ermsb_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`exclusive_range_pattern`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #37854.

The exclusive_range_pattern feature allows non-inclusive range patterns (0..10) to be used in appropriate pattern matching contexts. It also can be combined with #![feature(half_open_range_patterns] to be able to use RangeTo patterns (..10).

It also enabled RangeFrom patterns but that has since been stabilized.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(exclusive_range_pattern)]
fn main() {
    let x = 5;
    match x {
        0..10 => println!("single digit"),
        10 => println!("ten isn't part of the above range"),
        _ => println!("nor is everything else.")
    }
}

`exhaustive_patterns`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51085

`explicit_tail_calls`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #112788

`extended_varargs_abi_support`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #100189

This feature adds the possibility of using sysv64, win64 or efiapi calling conventions on functions with varargs.

`extern_types`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43467

`ffi_const`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #58328

The #[ffi_const] attribute applies clang's const attribute to foreign functions declarations.

That is, #[ffi_const] functions shall have no effects except for its return value, which can only depend on the values of the function parameters, and is not affected by changes to the observable state of the program.

Applying the #[ffi_const] attribute to a function that violates these requirements is undefined behaviour.

This attribute enables Rust to perform common optimizations, like sub-expression elimination, and it can avoid emitting some calls in repeated invocations of the function with the same argument values regardless of other operations being performed in between these functions calls (as opposed to #[ffi_pure] functions).

Pitfalls

A #[ffi_const] function can only read global memory that would not affect its return value for the whole execution of the program (e.g. immutable global memory). #[ffi_const] functions are referentially-transparent and therefore more strict than #[ffi_pure] functions.

A common pitfall involves applying the #[ffi_const] attribute to a function that reads memory through pointer arguments which do not necessarily point to immutable global memory.

A #[ffi_const] function that returns unit has no effect on the abstract machine's state, and a #[ffi_const] function cannot be #[ffi_pure].

A #[ffi_const] function must not diverge, neither via a side effect (e.g. a call to abort) nor by infinite loops.

When translating C headers to Rust FFI, it is worth verifying for which targets the const attribute is enabled in those headers, and using the appropriate cfg macros in the Rust side to match those definitions. While the semantics of const are implemented identically by many C and C++ compilers, e.g., clang, GCC, ARM C/C++ compiler, IBM ILE C/C++, etc. they are not necessarily implemented in this way on all of them. It is therefore also worth verifying that the semantics of the C toolchain used to compile the binary being linked against are compatible with those of the #[ffi_const].

`ffi_pure`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #58329

The #[ffi_pure] attribute applies clang's pure attribute to foreign functions declarations.

That is, #[ffi_pure] functions shall have no effects except for its return value, which shall not change across two consecutive function calls with the same parameters.

Applying the #[ffi_pure] attribute to a function that violates these requirements is undefined behavior.

This attribute enables Rust to perform common optimizations, like sub-expression elimination and loop optimizations. Some common examples of pure functions are strlen or memcmp.

These optimizations are only applicable when the compiler can prove that no program state observable by the #[ffi_pure] function has changed between calls of the function, which could alter the result. See also the #[ffi_const] attribute, which provides stronger guarantees regarding the allowable behavior of a function, enabling further optimization.

Pitfalls

A #[ffi_pure] function can read global memory through the function parameters (e.g. pointers), globals, etc. #[ffi_pure] functions are not referentially-transparent, and are therefore more relaxed than #[ffi_const] functions.

However, accessing global memory through volatile or atomic reads can violate the requirement that two consecutive function calls shall return the same value.

A pure function that returns unit has no effect on the abstract machine's state.

A #[ffi_pure] function must not diverge, neither via a side effect (e.g. a call to abort) nor by infinite loops.

When translating C headers to Rust FFI, it is worth verifying for which targets the pure attribute is enabled in those headers, and using the appropriate cfg macros in the Rust side to match those definitions. While the semantics of pure are implemented identically by many C and C++ compilers, e.g., clang, GCC, ARM C/C++ compiler, IBM ILE C/C++, etc. they are not necessarily implemented in this way on all of them. It is therefore also worth verifying that the semantics of the C toolchain used to compile the binary being linked against are compatible with those of the #[ffi_pure].

`ffi_returns_twice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #58314

`fn_align`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82232

`fundamental`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29635

`generator_clone`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95360

`generators`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43122

The generators feature gate in Rust allows you to define generator or coroutine literals. A generator is a "resumable function" that syntactically resembles a closure but compiles to much different semantics in the compiler itself. The primary feature of a generator is that it can be suspended during execution to be resumed at a later date. Generators use the yield keyword to "return", and then the caller can resume a generator to resume execution just after the yield keyword.

Generators are an extra-unstable feature in the compiler right now. Added in RFC 2033 they're mostly intended right now as a information/constraint gathering phase. The intent is that experimentation can happen on the nightly compiler before actual stabilization. A further RFC will be required to stabilize generators/coroutines and will likely contain at least a few small tweaks to the overall design.

A syntactical example of a generator is:

#![feature(generators, generator_trait)]

use std::ops::{Generator, GeneratorState};
use std::pin::Pin;

fn main() {
    let mut generator = || {
        yield 1;
        return "foo"
    };

    match Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(()) {
        GeneratorState::Yielded(1) => {}
        _ => panic!("unexpected value from resume"),
    }
    match Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(()) {
        GeneratorState::Complete("foo") => {}
        _ => panic!("unexpected value from resume"),
    }
}

Generators are closure-like literals which can contain a yield statement. The yield statement takes an optional expression of a value to yield out of the generator. All generator literals implement the Generator trait in the std::ops module. The Generator trait has one main method, resume, which resumes execution of the generator at the previous suspension point.

An example of the control flow of generators is that the following example prints all numbers in order:

#![feature(generators, generator_trait)]

use std::ops::Generator;
use std::pin::Pin;

fn main() {
    let mut generator = || {
        println!("2");
        yield;
        println!("4");
    };

    println!("1");
    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
    println!("3");
    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
    println!("5");
}

At this time the main intended use case of generators is an implementation primitive for async/await syntax, but generators will likely be extended to ergonomic implementations of iterators and other primitives in the future. Feedback on the design and usage is always appreciated!

The `Generator` trait

The Generator trait in std::ops currently looks like:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#![feature(arbitrary_self_types, generator_trait)]
use std::ops::GeneratorState;
use std::pin::Pin;

pub trait Generator<R = ()> {
    type Yield;
    type Return;
    fn resume(self: Pin<&mut Self>, resume: R) -> GeneratorState<Self::Yield, Self::Return>;
}
}

The Generator::Yield type is the type of values that can be yielded with the yield statement. The Generator::Return type is the returned type of the generator. This is typically the last expression in a generator's definition or any value passed to return in a generator. The resume function is the entry point for executing the Generator itself.

The return value of resume, GeneratorState, looks like:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
pub enum GeneratorState<Y, R> {
    Yielded(Y),
    Complete(R),
}
}

The Yielded variant indicates that the generator can later be resumed. This corresponds to a yield point in a generator. The Complete variant indicates that the generator is complete and cannot be resumed again. Calling resume after a generator has returned Complete will likely result in a panic of the program.

Closure-like semantics

The closure-like syntax for generators alludes to the fact that they also have closure-like semantics. Namely:

When created, a generator executes no code. A closure literal does not actually execute any of the closure's code on construction, and similarly a generator literal does not execute any code inside the generator when constructed.
Generators can capture outer variables by reference or by move, and this can be tweaked with the move keyword at the beginning of the closure. Like closures all generators will have an implicit environment which is inferred by the compiler. Outer variables can be moved into a generator for use as the generator progresses.
Generator literals produce a value with a unique type which implements the std::ops::Generator trait. This allows actual execution of the generator through the Generator::resume method as well as also naming it in return types and such.
Traits like Send and Sync are automatically implemented for a Generator depending on the captured variables of the environment. Unlike closures, generators also depend on variables live across suspension points. This means that although the ambient environment may be Send or Sync, the generator itself may not be due to internal variables live across yield points being not-Send or not-Sync. Note that generators do not implement traits like Copy or Clone automatically.
Whenever a generator is dropped it will drop all captured environment variables.

Generators as state machines

In the compiler, generators are currently compiled as state machines. Each yield expression will correspond to a different state that stores all live variables over that suspension point. Resumption of a generator will dispatch on the current state and then execute internally until a yield is reached, at which point all state is saved off in the generator and a value is returned.

Let's take a look at an example to see what's going on here:

#![feature(generators, generator_trait)]

use std::ops::Generator;
use std::pin::Pin;

fn main() {
    let ret = "foo";
    let mut generator = move || {
        yield 1;
        return ret
    };

    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
}

This generator literal will compile down to something similar to:

#![feature(arbitrary_self_types, generators, generator_trait)]

use std::ops::{Generator, GeneratorState};
use std::pin::Pin;

fn main() {
    let ret = "foo";
    let mut generator = {
        enum __Generator {
            Start(&'static str),
            Yield1(&'static str),
            Done,
        }

        impl Generator for __Generator {
            type Yield = i32;
            type Return = &'static str;

            fn resume(mut self: Pin<&mut Self>, resume: ()) -> GeneratorState<i32, &'static str> {
                use std::mem;
                match mem::replace(&mut *self, __Generator::Done) {
                    __Generator::Start(s) => {
                        *self = __Generator::Yield1(s);
                        GeneratorState::Yielded(1)
                    }

                    __Generator::Yield1(s) => {
                        *self = __Generator::Done;
                        GeneratorState::Complete(s)
                    }

                    __Generator::Done => {
                        panic!("generator resumed after completion")
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        __Generator::Start(ret)
    };

    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
    Pin::new(&mut generator).resume(());
}

Notably here we can see that the compiler is generating a fresh type, __Generator in this case. This type has a number of states (represented here as an enum) corresponding to each of the conceptual states of the generator. At the beginning we're closing over our outer variable foo and then that variable is also live over the yield point, so it's stored in both states.

When the generator starts it'll immediately yield 1, but it saves off its state just before it does so indicating that it has reached the yield point. Upon resuming again we'll execute the return ret which returns the Complete state.

Here we can also note that the Done state, if resumed, panics immediately as it's invalid to resume a completed generator. It's also worth noting that this is just a rough desugaring, not a normative specification for what the compiler does.

`generic_arg_infer`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85077

`generic_assert`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`generic_associated_types_extended`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95451

`generic_const_exprs`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76560

`generic_const_items`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #113521

`half_open_range_patterns_in_slices`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67264 It is part of the exclusive_range_pattern feature, tracked at #37854.

This feature allow using top-level half-open range patterns in slices.

#![feature(half_open_range_patterns_in_slices)]
#![feature(exclusive_range_pattern)]

fn main() {
    let xs = [13, 1, 5, 2, 3, 1, 21, 8];
    let [a @ 3.., b @ ..3, c @ 4..6, ..] = xs else { return; };
}

Note that this feature is not required if the patterns are wrapped between parenthesis.

fn main() {
    let xs = [13, 1];
    let [(a @ 3..), c] = xs else { return; };
}

`hexagon_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`if_let_guard`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51114

`impl_trait_in_assoc_type`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63063

`impl_trait_in_fn_trait_return`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99697

`imported_main`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #28937

`inherent_associated_types`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #8995

`inline_const`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76001

`inline_const_pat`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76001

`intra-doc-pointers`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80896

Rustdoc does not currently allow disambiguating between *const and *mut, and raw pointers in intra-doc links are unstable until it does.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(intra_doc_pointers)]
fn main() {
//! [pointer::add]
}

`intrinsics`

The tracking issue for this feature is: None.

Intrinsics are never intended to be stable directly, but intrinsics are often exported in some sort of stable manner. Prefer using the stable interfaces to the intrinsic directly when you can.

These are imported as if they were FFI functions, with the special rust-intrinsic ABI. For example, if one was in a freestanding context, but wished to be able to transmute between types, and perform efficient pointer arithmetic, one would import those functions via a declaration like

#![feature(intrinsics)]
#![allow(internal_features)]
fn main() {}

extern "rust-intrinsic" {
    fn transmute<T, U>(x: T) -> U;

    fn arith_offset<T>(dst: *const T, offset: isize) -> *const T;
}

As with any other FFI functions, these are always unsafe to call.

`lang_items`

The tracking issue for this feature is: None.

The rustc compiler has certain pluggable operations, that is, functionality that isn't hard-coded into the language, but is implemented in libraries, with a special marker to tell the compiler it exists. The marker is the attribute #[lang = "..."] and there are various different values of ..., i.e. various different 'lang items'. Most of them can only be defined once.

Lang items are loaded lazily by the compiler; e.g. if one never uses Box then there is no need to define a function for exchange_malloc. rustc will emit an error when an item is needed but not found in the current crate or any that it depends on.

Some features provided by lang items:

overloadable operators via traits: the traits corresponding to the ==, <, dereferencing (*) and + (etc.) operators are all marked with lang items; those specific four are eq, partial_ord, deref/deref_mut, and add respectively.
panicking: the panic and panic_impl lang items, among others.
stack unwinding: the lang item eh_personality is a function used by the failure mechanisms of the compiler. This is often mapped to GCC's personality function (see the std implementation for more information), but programs which don't trigger a panic can be assured that this function is never called. Additionally, a eh_catch_typeinfo static is needed for certain targets which implement Rust panics on top of C++ exceptions.
the traits in core::marker used to indicate types of various kinds; e.g. lang items sized, sync and copy.
memory allocation, see below.

Most lang items are defined by core, but if you're trying to build an executable without the std crate, you might run into the need for lang item definitions.

Example: Implementing a `Box`

Box pointers require two lang items: one for the type itself and one for allocation. A freestanding program that uses the Box sugar for dynamic allocations via malloc and free:

#![feature(lang_items, start, core_intrinsics, rustc_private, panic_unwind, rustc_attrs)]
#![allow(internal_features)]
#![no_std]

extern crate libc;
extern crate unwind;

use core::ffi::c_void;
use core::intrinsics;
use core::panic::PanicInfo;
use core::ptr::NonNull;

pub struct Global; // the global allocator
struct Unique<T>(NonNull<T>);

#[lang = "owned_box"]
pub struct Box<T, A = Global>(Unique<T>, A);

impl<T> Box<T> {
    pub fn new(x: T) -> Self {
        #[rustc_box]
        Box::new(x)
    }
}

impl<T, A> Drop for Box<T, A> {
    fn drop(&mut self) {
        unsafe {
            libc::free(self.0.0.as_ptr() as *mut c_void);
        }
    }
}

#[lang = "exchange_malloc"]
unsafe fn allocate(size: usize, _align: usize) -> *mut u8 {
    let p = libc::malloc(size) as *mut u8;

    // Check if `malloc` failed:
    if p.is_null() {
        intrinsics::abort();
    }

    p
}

#[start]
fn main(_argc: isize, _argv: *const *const u8) -> isize {
    let _x = Box::new(1);

    0
}

#[lang = "eh_personality"]
fn rust_eh_personality() {}

#[panic_handler]
fn panic_handler(_info: &PanicInfo) -> ! { intrinsics::abort() }

Note the use of abort: the exchange_malloc lang item is assumed to return a valid pointer, and so needs to do the check internally.

List of all language items

An up-to-date list of all language items can be found here in the compiler code.

`large_assignments`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83518

`lazy_type_alias`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #112792

`let_chains`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #53667

`link_cfg`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`link_llvm_intrinsics`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29602

`linkage`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29603

`lint_reasons`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54503

`macro_metavar_expr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83527

`marker_trait_attr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29864

Normally, Rust keeps you from adding trait implementations that could overlap with each other, as it would be ambiguous which to use. This feature, however, carves out an exception to that rule: a trait can opt-in to having overlapping implementations, at the cost that those implementations are not allowed to override anything (and thus the trait itself cannot have any associated items, as they're pointless when they'd need to do the same thing for every type anyway).

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(marker_trait_attr)]

fn main() {
#[marker] trait CheapToClone: Clone {}

impl<T: Copy> CheapToClone for T {}

// These could potentially overlap with the blanket implementation above,
// so are only allowed because CheapToClone is a marker trait.
impl<T: CheapToClone, U: CheapToClone> CheapToClone for (T, U) {}
impl<T: CheapToClone> CheapToClone for std::ops::Range<T> {}

fn cheap_clone<T: CheapToClone>(t: T) -> T {
    t.clone()
}
}

This is expected to replace the unstable overlapping_marker_traits feature, which applied to all empty traits (without needing an opt-in).

`min_specialization`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #31844

`mips_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`more_qualified_paths`

The more_qualified_paths feature can be used in order to enable the use of qualified paths in patterns.

Example

#![feature(more_qualified_paths)]

fn main() {
    // destructure through a qualified path
    let <Foo as A>::Assoc { br } = StructStruct { br: 2 };
}

struct StructStruct {
    br: i8,
}

struct Foo;

trait A {
    type Assoc;
}

impl A for Foo {
    type Assoc = StructStruct;
}

`multiple_supertrait_upcastable`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`must_not_suspend`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83310

`naked_functions`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32408

`native_link_modifiers_as_needed`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #81490

The native_link_modifiers_as_needed feature allows you to use the as-needed modifier.

as-needed is only compatible with the dynamic and framework linking kinds. Using any other kind will result in a compiler error.

+as-needed means that the library will be actually linked only if it satisfies some undefined symbols at the point at which it is specified on the command line, making it similar to static libraries in this regard.

This modifier translates to --as-needed for ld-like linkers, and to -dead_strip_dylibs / -needed_library / -needed_framework for ld64. The modifier does nothing for linkers that don't support it (e.g. link.exe).

The default for this modifier is unclear, some targets currently specify it as +as-needed, some do not. We may want to try making +as-needed a default for all targets.

`needs_panic_runtime`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32837

`negative_bounds`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`negative_impls`

The tracking issue for this feature is #68318.

With the feature gate negative_impls, you can write negative impls as well as positive ones:

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(negative_impls)]
fn main() {
trait DerefMut { }
impl<T: ?Sized> !DerefMut for &T { }
}

Negative impls indicate a semver guarantee that the given trait will not be implemented for the given types. Negative impls play an additional purpose for auto traits, described below.

Negative impls have the following characteristics:

They do not have any items.
They must obey the orphan rules as if they were a positive impl.
They cannot "overlap" with any positive impls.

Semver interaction

It is a breaking change to remove a negative impl. Negative impls are a commitment not to implement the given trait for the named types.

Orphan and overlap rules

Negative impls must obey the same orphan rules as a positive impl. This implies you cannot add a negative impl for types defined in upstream crates and so forth.

Similarly, negative impls cannot overlap with positive impls, again using the same "overlap" check that we ordinarily use to determine if two impls overlap. (Note that positive impls typically cannot overlap with one another either, except as permitted by specialization.)

Interaction with auto traits

Declaring a negative impl impl !SomeAutoTrait for SomeType for an auto-trait serves two purposes:

as with any trait, it declares that SomeType will never implement SomeAutoTrait;
it disables the automatic SomeType: SomeAutoTrait impl that would otherwise have been generated.

Note that, at present, there is no way to indicate that a given type does not implement an auto trait but that it may do so in the future. For ordinary types, this is done by simply not declaring any impl at all, but that is not an option for auto traits. A workaround is that one could embed a marker type as one of the fields, where the marker type is !AutoTrait.

Immediate uses

Negative impls are used to declare that &T: !DerefMut and &mut T: !Clone, as required to fix the soundness of Pin described in #66544.

This serves two purposes:

For proving the correctness of unsafe code, we can use that impl as evidence that no DerefMut or Clone impl exists.
It prevents downstream crates from creating such impls.

`never_type`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #35121

`never_type_fallback`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #65992

`no_core`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29639

`no_sanitize`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #39699

The no_sanitize attribute can be used to selectively disable sanitizer instrumentation in an annotated function. This might be useful to: avoid instrumentation overhead in a performance critical function, or avoid instrumenting code that contains constructs unsupported by given sanitizer.

The precise effect of this annotation depends on particular sanitizer in use. For example, with no_sanitize(thread), the thread sanitizer will no longer instrument non-atomic store / load operations, but it will instrument atomic operations to avoid reporting false positives and provide meaning full stack traces.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(no_sanitize)]

fn main() {
#[no_sanitize(address)]
fn foo() {
  // ...
}
}

`non_exhaustive_omitted_patterns_lint`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89554

`non_lifetime_binders`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #108185

`object_safe_for_dispatch`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43561

`omit_gdb_pretty_printer_section`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`optimize_attribute`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54882

`panic_runtime`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32837

`platform_intrinsics`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27731

`plugin`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29597

This feature is part of "compiler plugins." It will often be used with the rustc_private feature.

rustc can load compiler plugins, which are user-provided libraries that extend the compiler's behavior with new lint checks, etc.

A plugin is a dynamic library crate with a designated registrar function that registers extensions with rustc. Other crates can load these extensions using the crate attribute #![plugin(...)]. See the rustc_driver::plugin documentation for more about the mechanics of defining and loading a plugin.

In the vast majority of cases, a plugin should only be used through #![plugin] and not through an extern crate item. Linking a plugin would pull in all of librustc_ast and librustc as dependencies of your crate. This is generally unwanted unless you are building another plugin.

The usual practice is to put compiler plugins in their own crate, separate from any macro_rules! macros or ordinary Rust code meant to be used by consumers of a library.

Lint plugins

Plugins can extend Rust's lint infrastructure with additional checks for code style, safety, etc. Now let's write a plugin lint-plugin-test.rs that warns about any item named lintme.

#![feature(rustc_private)]

extern crate rustc_ast;

// Load rustc as a plugin to get macros
extern crate rustc_driver;
extern crate rustc_lint;
#[macro_use]
extern crate rustc_session;

use rustc_ast::ast;
use rustc_driver::plugin::Registry;
use rustc_lint::{EarlyContext, EarlyLintPass, LintContext};

declare_lint!(TEST_LINT, Warn, "Warn about items named 'lintme'");

declare_lint_pass!(Pass => [TEST_LINT]);

impl EarlyLintPass for Pass {
    fn check_item(&mut self, cx: &EarlyContext, it: &ast::Item) {
        if it.ident.name.as_str() == "lintme" {
            cx.lint(TEST_LINT, "item is named 'lintme'", |lint| lint.set_span(it.span));
        }
    }
}

#[no_mangle]
fn __rustc_plugin_registrar(reg: &mut Registry) {
    reg.lint_store.register_lints(&[&TEST_LINT]);
    reg.lint_store.register_early_pass(|| Box::new(Pass));
}

Then code like

#![feature(plugin)]
#![plugin(lint_plugin_test)]

fn lintme() { }

will produce a compiler warning:

foo.rs:4:1: 4:16 warning: item is named 'lintme', #[warn(test_lint)] on by default
foo.rs:4 fn lintme() { }
         ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The components of a lint plugin are:

one or more declare_lint! invocations, which define static Lint structs;
a struct holding any state needed by the lint pass (here, none);
a LintPass implementation defining how to check each syntax element. A single LintPass may call span_lint for several different Lints, but should register them all through the get_lints method.

Lint passes are syntax traversals, but they run at a late stage of compilation where type information is available. rustc's built-in lints mostly use the same infrastructure as lint plugins, and provide examples of how to access type information.

Lints defined by plugins are controlled by the usual attributes and compiler flags, e.g. #[allow(test_lint)] or -A test-lint. These identifiers are derived from the first argument to declare_lint!, with appropriate case and punctuation conversion.

You can run rustc -W help foo.rs to see a list of lints known to rustc, including those provided by plugins loaded by foo.rs.

`powerpc_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`precise_pointer_size_matching`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #56354

`prelude_import`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`proc_macro_hygiene`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54727

`profiler_runtime`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #42524.

`raw_ref_op`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64490

`register_tool`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #66079

`repr_simd`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27731

`repr128`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #56071

The repr128 feature adds support for #[repr(u128)] on enums.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(repr128)]

fn main() {
#[repr(u128)]
enum Foo {
    Bar(u64),
}
}

`return_position_impl_trait_in_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91611

`return_type_notation`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #109417

`riscv_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`rtm_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`rust_cold_cc`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #97544

`rustc_allow_const_fn_unstable`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69399

`rustc_attrs`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

Note: rustc_attrs enables many rustc-internal attributes and this page only discuss a few of them.

The rustc_attrs feature allows debugging rustc type layouts by using #[rustc_layout(...)] to debug layout at compile time (it even works with cargo check) as an alternative to rustc -Z print-type-sizes that is way more verbose.

Options provided by #[rustc_layout(...)] are debug, size, align, abi. Note that it only works on sized types without generics.

Examples

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(rustc_attrs)]

fn main() {
#[rustc_layout(abi, size)]
pub enum X {
    Y(u8, u8, u8),
    Z(isize),
}
}

When that is compiled, the compiler will error with something like

error: abi: Aggregate { sized: true }
 --> src/lib.rs:4:1
  |
4 | / pub enum T {
5 | |     Y(u8, u8, u8),
6 | |     Z(isize),
7 | | }
  | |_^

error: size: Size { raw: 16 }
 --> src/lib.rs:4:1
  |
4 | / pub enum T {
5 | |     Y(u8, u8, u8),
6 | |     Z(isize),
7 | | }
  | |_^

error: aborting due to 2 previous errors

`rustc_private`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27812

`rustdoc_internals`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90418

`rustdoc_missing_doc_code_examples`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101730

`simd_ffi`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27731

`specialization`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #31844

`sse4a_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`staged_api`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`start`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29633

Allows you to mark a function as the entry point of the executable, which is necessary in #![no_std] environments.

The function marked #[start] is passed the command line parameters in the same format as the C main function (aside from the integer types being used). It has to be non-generic and have the following signature:

let _:
fn(isize, *const *const u8) -> isize
;

This feature should not be confused with the start lang item which is defined by the std crate and is written #[lang = "start"].

Usage together with the `std` crate

#[start] can be used in combination with the std crate, in which case the normal main function (which would get called from the std crate) won't be used as an entry point. The initialization code in std will be skipped this way.

Example:

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(start)]

fn main() {
#[start]
fn start(_argc: isize, _argv: *const *const u8) -> isize {
    0
}
}

Unwinding the stack past the #[start] function is currently considered Undefined Behavior (for any unwinding implementation):

#![feature(start)]

#[start]
fn start(_argc: isize, _argv: *const *const u8) -> isize {
    std::panic::catch_unwind(|| {
        panic!(); // panic safely gets caught or safely aborts execution
    });

    panic!(); // UB!

    0
}

`stmt_expr_attributes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #15701

`strict_provenance`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95228

The strict_provenance feature allows to enable the fuzzy_provenance_casts and lossy_provenance_casts lints. These lint on casts between integers and pointers, that are recommended against or invalid in the strict provenance model. The same feature gate is also used for the experimental strict provenance API in std (actually core).

Example

#![feature(strict_provenance)]
#![warn(fuzzy_provenance_casts)]

fn main() {
    let _dangling = 16_usize as *const u8;
    //~^ WARNING: strict provenance disallows casting integer `usize` to pointer `*const u8`
}

`string_deref_patterns`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87121

`structural_match`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #31434

`target_feature_11`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69098

`tbm_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`test_2018_feature`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`test_unstable_lint`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`thread_local`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29594

`trait_alias`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #41517

The trait_alias feature adds support for trait aliases. These allow aliases to be created for one or more traits (currently just a single regular trait plus any number of auto-traits), and used wherever traits would normally be used as either bounds or trait objects.

#![feature(trait_alias)]

trait Foo = std::fmt::Debug + Send;
trait Bar = Foo + Sync;

// Use trait alias as bound on type parameter.
fn foo<T: Foo>(v: &T) {
    println!("{:?}", v);
}

pub fn main() {
    foo(&1);

    // Use trait alias for trait objects.
    let a: &Bar = &123;
    println!("{:?}", a);
    let b = Box::new(456) as Box<dyn Foo>;
    println!("{:?}", b);
}

`trait_upcasting`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #65991

The trait_upcasting feature adds support for trait upcasting coercion. This allows a trait object of type dyn Bar to be cast to a trait object of type dyn Foo so long as Bar: Foo.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(trait_upcasting)]
#![allow(incomplete_features)]

fn main() {
trait Foo {}

trait Bar: Foo {}

impl Foo for i32 {}

impl<T: Foo + ?Sized> Bar for T {}

let bar: &dyn Bar = &123;
let foo: &dyn Foo = bar;
}

`transmute_generic_consts`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #109929

`transparent_unions`

The tracking issue for this feature is #60405

The transparent_unions feature allows you mark unions as #[repr(transparent)]. A union may be #[repr(transparent)] in exactly the same conditions in which a struct may be #[repr(transparent)] (generally, this means the union must have exactly one non-zero-sized field). Some concrete illustrations follow.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(transparent_unions)]

fn main() {
// This union has the same representation as `f32`.
#[repr(transparent)]
union SingleFieldUnion {
    field: f32,
}

// This union has the same representation as `usize`.
#[repr(transparent)]
union MultiFieldUnion {
    field: usize,
    nothing: (),
}
}

For consistency with transparent structs, unions must have exactly one non-zero-sized field. If all fields are zero-sized, the union must not be #[repr(transparent)]:

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(transparent_unions)]

fn main() {
// This (non-transparent) union is already valid in stable Rust:
pub union GoodUnion {
    pub nothing: (),
}

// Error: transparent union needs exactly one non-zero-sized field, but has 0
// #[repr(transparent)]
// pub union BadUnion {
//     pub nothing: (),
// }
}

The one exception is if the union is generic over T and has a field of type T, it may be #[repr(transparent)] even if T is a zero-sized type:

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(transparent_unions)]

fn main() {
// This union has the same representation as `T`.
#[repr(transparent)]
pub union GenericUnion<T: Copy> { // Unions with non-`Copy` fields are unstable.
    pub field: T,
    pub nothing: (),
}

// This is okay even though `()` is a zero-sized type.
pub const THIS_IS_OKAY: GenericUnion<()> = GenericUnion { field: () };
}

Like transparent structs, a transparent union of type U has the same layout, size, and ABI as its single non-ZST field. If it is generic over a type T, and all its fields are ZSTs except for exactly one field of type T, then it has the same layout and ABI as T (even if T is a ZST when monomorphized).

Like transparent structs, transparent unions are FFI-safe if and only if their underlying representation type is also FFI-safe.

A union may not be eligible for the same nonnull-style optimizations that a struct or enum (with the same fields) are eligible for. Adding #[repr(transparent)] to union does not change this. To give a more concrete example, it is unspecified whether size_of::<T>() is equal to size_of::<Option<T>>(), where T is a union (regardless of whether or not it is transparent). The Rust compiler is free to perform this optimization if possible, but is not required to, and different compiler versions may differ in their application of these optimizations.

`trivial_bounds`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #48214

`try_blocks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #31436

The try_blocks feature adds support for try blocks. A try block creates a new scope one can use the ? operator in.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(try_blocks)]

fn main() {
use std::num::ParseIntError;

let result: Result<i32, ParseIntError> = try {
    "1".parse::<i32>()?
        + "2".parse::<i32>()?
        + "3".parse::<i32>()?
};
assert_eq!(result, Ok(6));

let result: Result<i32, ParseIntError> = try {
    "1".parse::<i32>()?
        + "foo".parse::<i32>()?
        + "3".parse::<i32>()?
};
assert!(result.is_err());
}

`type_alias_impl_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63063

`type_ascription`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #23416

`type_changing_struct_update`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86555

This implements RFC2528. When turned on, you can create instances of the same struct that have different generic type or lifetime parameters.

#![allow(unused_variables, dead_code)]
#![feature(type_changing_struct_update)]

fn main () {
    struct Foo<T, U> {
        field1: T,
        field2: U,
    }

    let base: Foo<String, i32> = Foo {
        field1: String::from("hello"),
        field2: 1234,
    };
    let updated: Foo<f64, i32> = Foo {
        field1: 3.14,
        ..base
    };
}

`type_privacy_lints`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #48054

`unboxed_closures`

The tracking issue for this feature is #29625

`unix_sigpipe`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #97889

The #[unix_sigpipe = "..."] attribute on fn main() can be used to specify how libstd shall setup SIGPIPE on Unix platforms before invoking fn main(). This attribute is ignored on non-Unix targets. There are three variants:

#[unix_sigpipe = "inherit"]
#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_dfl"]
#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_ign"]

`#[unix_sigpipe = "inherit"]`

Leave SIGPIPE untouched before entering fn main(). Unless the parent process has changed the default SIGPIPE handler from SIG_DFL to something else, this will behave the same as #[unix_sigpipe = "sig_dfl"].

`#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_dfl"]`

Set the SIGPIPE handler to SIG_DFL. This will result in your program getting killed if it tries to write to a closed pipe. This is normally what you want if your program produces textual output.

Example

#![feature(unix_sigpipe)]
#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_dfl"]
fn main() { loop { println!("hello world"); } }

% ./main | head -n 1
hello world

`#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_ign"]`

Set the SIGPIPE handler to SIG_IGN before invoking fn main(). This will result in ErrorKind::BrokenPipe errors if you program tries to write to a closed pipe. This is normally what you want if you for example write socket servers, socket clients, or pipe peers.

This is what libstd has done by default since 2014. (However, see the note on child processes below.)

Example

#![feature(unix_sigpipe)]
#[unix_sigpipe = "sig_ign"]
fn main() { loop { println!("hello world"); } }

% ./main | head -n 1
hello world
thread 'main' panicked at 'failed printing to stdout: Broken pipe (os error 32)', library/std/src/io/stdio.rs:1016:9
note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace

Note on child processes

When spawning child processes, the legacy Rust behavior if #[unix_sigpipe] is not specified is to reset SIGPIPE to SIG_DFL.

If #[unix_sigpipe = "..."] is specified, no matter what its value is, the signal disposition of SIGPIPE is no longer reset. This means that the child inherits the parent's SIGPIPE behavior.

`unnamed_fields`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #49804

`unsafe_pin_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`unsized_fn_params`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #48055

`unsized_locals`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #48055

This implements RFC1909. When turned on, you can have unsized arguments and locals:

#![allow(incomplete_features)]
#![feature(unsized_locals, unsized_fn_params)]

use std::any::Any;

fn main() {
    let x: Box<dyn Any> = Box::new(42);
    let x: dyn Any = *x;
    //  ^ unsized local variable
    //               ^^ unsized temporary
    foo(x);
}

fn foo(_: dyn Any) {}
//     ^^^^^^ unsized argument

The RFC still forbids the following unsized expressions:

#![feature(unsized_locals)]

use std::any::Any;

struct MyStruct<T: ?Sized> {
    content: T,
}

struct MyTupleStruct<T: ?Sized>(T);

fn answer() -> Box<dyn Any> {
    Box::new(42)
}

fn main() {
    // You CANNOT have unsized statics.
    static X: dyn Any = *answer();  // ERROR
    const Y: dyn Any = *answer();  // ERROR

    // You CANNOT have struct initialized unsized.
    MyStruct { content: *answer() };  // ERROR
    MyTupleStruct(*answer());  // ERROR
    (42, *answer());  // ERROR

    // You CANNOT have unsized return types.
    fn my_function() -> dyn Any { *answer() }  // ERROR

    // You CAN have unsized local variables...
    let mut x: dyn Any = *answer();  // OK
    // ...but you CANNOT reassign to them.
    x = *answer();  // ERROR

    // You CANNOT even initialize them separately.
    let y: dyn Any;  // OK
    y = *answer();  // ERROR

    // Not mentioned in the RFC, but by-move captured variables are also Sized.
    let x: dyn Any = *answer();
    (move || {  // ERROR
        let y = x;
    })();

    // You CAN create a closure with unsized arguments,
    // but you CANNOT call it.
    // This is an implementation detail and may be changed in the future.
    let f = |x: dyn Any| {};
    f(*answer());  // ERROR
}

By-value trait objects

With this feature, you can have by-value self arguments without Self: Sized bounds.

#![feature(unsized_fn_params)]

trait Foo {
    fn foo(self) {}
}

impl<T: ?Sized> Foo for T {}

fn main() {
    let slice: Box<[i32]> = Box::new([1, 2, 3]);
    <[i32] as Foo>::foo(*slice);
}

And Foo will also be object-safe.

#![feature(unsized_fn_params)]

trait Foo {
    fn foo(self) {}
}

impl<T: ?Sized> Foo for T {}

fn main () {
    let slice: Box<dyn Foo> = Box::new([1, 2, 3]);
    // doesn't compile yet
    <dyn Foo as Foo>::foo(*slice);
}

One of the objectives of this feature is to allow Box<dyn FnOnce>.

Variable length arrays

The RFC also describes an extension to the array literal syntax: [e; dyn n]. In the syntax, n isn't necessarily a constant expression. The array is dynamically allocated on the stack and has the type of [T], instead of [T; n].

#![feature(unsized_locals)]

fn mergesort<T: Ord>(a: &mut [T]) {
    let mut tmp = [T; dyn a.len()];
    // ...
}

fn main() {
    let mut a = [3, 1, 5, 6];
    mergesort(&mut a);
    assert_eq!(a, [1, 3, 5, 6]);
}

VLAs are not implemented yet. The syntax isn't final, either. We may need an alternative syntax for Rust 2015 because, in Rust 2015, expressions like [e; dyn(1)] would be ambiguous. One possible alternative proposed in the RFC is [e; n]: if n captures one or more local variables, then it is considered as [e; dyn n].

Advisory on stack usage

It's advised not to casually use the #![feature(unsized_locals)] feature. Typical use-cases are:

When you need a by-value trait objects.
When you really need a fast allocation of small temporary arrays.

Another pitfall is repetitive allocation and temporaries. Currently the compiler simply extends the stack frame every time it encounters an unsized assignment. So for example, the code

#![feature(unsized_locals)]

fn main() {
    let x: Box<[i32]> = Box::new([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
    let _x = {{{{{{{{{{*x}}}}}}}}}};
}

and the code

#![feature(unsized_locals)]

fn main() {
    for _ in 0..10 {
        let x: Box<[i32]> = Box::new([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
        let _x = *x;
    }
}

will unnecessarily extend the stack frame.

`unsized_tuple_coercion`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #42877

This is a part of RFC0401. According to the RFC, there should be an implementation like this:

impl<..., T, U: ?Sized> Unsized<(..., U)> for (..., T) where T: Unsized<U> {}

This implementation is currently gated behind #[feature(unsized_tuple_coercion)] to avoid insta-stability. Therefore you can use it like this:

#![feature(unsized_tuple_coercion)]

fn main() {
    let x : ([i32; 3], [i32; 3]) = ([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]);
    let y : &([i32; 3], [i32]) = &x;
    assert_eq!(y.1[0], 4);
}

`used_with_arg`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93798

`wasm_abi`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83788

`wasm_target_feature`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44839

`with_negative_coherence`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`yeet_expr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96373

The yeet_expr feature adds support for do yeet expressions, which can be used to early-exit from a function or try block.

These are highly experimental, thus the placeholder syntax.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(yeet_expr)]

fn main() {
fn foo() -> Result<String, i32> {
    do yeet 4;
}
assert_eq!(foo(), Err(4));

fn bar() -> Option<String> {
    do yeet;
}
assert_eq!(bar(), None);
}

Library Features

`absolute_path`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92750

`addr_parse_ascii`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101035

`alloc_error_hook`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #51245

`alloc_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`alloc_layout_extra`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #55724

`allocator_api`

The tracking issue for this feature is #32838

Sometimes you want the memory for one collection to use a different allocator than the memory for another collection. In this case, replacing the global allocator is not a workable option. Instead, you need to pass in an instance of an AllocRef to each collection for which you want a custom allocator.

TBD

`arc_unwrap_or_clone`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93610

`array_chunks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74985

`array_into_iter_constructors`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91583

`array_methods`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76118

`array_try_from_fn`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89379

`array_try_map`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79711

`array_windows`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75027

`as_array_of_cells`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88248

`ascii_char`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110998

`ascii_char_variants`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110998

`assert_matches`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82775

`async_iter_from_iter`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #81798

`async_iterator`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79024

`atomic_bool_fetch_not`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98485

`atomic_from_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76314

`atomic_from_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #108652

`backtrace_frames`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79676

`bigint_helper_methods`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85532

`binary_heap_as_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83659

`binary_heap_drain_sorted`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #59278

`binary_heap_into_iter_sorted`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #59278

`bound_as_ref`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80996

`bound_map`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86026

`box_into_boxed_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #71582

`box_into_inner`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80437

`btree_cursors`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #107540

`btree_extract_if`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #70530

`btreemap_alloc`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32838

`buf_read_has_data_left`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86423

`byte_slice_trim_ascii`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94035

`c_size_t`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88345

`c_void_variant`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`can_vector`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69941

`cell_leak`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69099

`cell_update`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #50186

`cfg_accessible`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64797

`cfg_eval`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82679

`cfg_match`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #115585

`char_indices_offset`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83871

`char_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`char_min`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #114298

`cmp_minmax`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #115939

`coerce_unsized`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #18598

`concat_bytes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87555

`concat_idents`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29599

The concat_idents feature adds a macro for concatenating multiple identifiers into one identifier.

Examples

#![feature(concat_idents)]

fn main() {
    fn foobar() -> u32 { 23 }
    let f = concat_idents!(foo, bar);
    assert_eq!(f(), 23);
}

`const_align_of_val`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #46571

`const_align_of_val_raw`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #46571

`const_align_offset`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90962

`const_alloc_error`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92523

`const_alloc_layout`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67521

`const_arguments_as_str`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #103900

`const_array_from_ref`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90206

`const_array_into_iter_constructors`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91583

`const_assert_type2`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_assume`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76972

`const_bigint_helper_methods`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85532

`const_black_box`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_box`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92521

`const_btree_len`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_caller_location`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76156

`const_cell_into_inner`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #78729

`const_char_from_u32_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89259

`const_collections_with_hasher`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102575

`const_cow_is_borrowed`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #65143

`const_cstr_from_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #113219

`const_discriminant`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69821

`const_eval_select`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_exact_div`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_float_bits_conv`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #72447

`const_float_classify`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #72505

`const_fmt_arguments_new`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_format_args`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_hash`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #104061

`const_heap`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79597

`const_index_range_slice_index`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_inherent_unchecked_arith`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85122

`const_int_unchecked_arith`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_intoiterator_identity`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90603

`const_intrinsic_compare_bytes`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_intrinsic_forget`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_intrinsic_raw_eq`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_io_structs`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #78812

`const_ip`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76205

`const_ipv4`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76205

`const_ipv6`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76205

`const_likely`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_location_fields`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102911

`const_maybe_uninit_array_assume_init`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96097

`const_maybe_uninit_as_mut_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75251

`const_maybe_uninit_assume_init`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_maybe_uninit_assume_init_read`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63567

`const_maybe_uninit_uninit_array`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96097

`const_maybe_uninit_write`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63567

`const_maybe_uninit_zeroed`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91850

`const_nonnull_new`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93235

`const_num_midpoint`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110840

`const_option`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67441

`const_option_ext`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91930

`const_pin`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76654

`const_pointer_byte_offsets`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96283

`const_pointer_is_aligned`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #104203

`const_pref_align_of`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91971

`const_ptr_as_ref`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91822

`const_ptr_is_null`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74939

`const_ptr_sub_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95892

`const_ptr_write`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86302

`const_range_bounds`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #108082

`const_raw_ptr_comparison`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #53020

`const_replace`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83164

`const_result`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82814

`const_size_of_val`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #46571

`const_size_of_val_raw`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #46571

`const_slice_first_last`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83570

`const_slice_from_mut_ptr_range`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89792

`const_slice_from_ptr_range`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89792

`const_slice_from_raw_parts_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67456

`const_slice_from_ref`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90206

`const_slice_index`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`const_slice_ptr_len`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #71146

`const_slice_split_at_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101804

`const_str_from_utf8`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91006

`const_str_from_utf8_unchecked_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91005

`const_swap`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83163

`const_type_id`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77125

`const_type_name`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63084

`const_unicode_case_lookup`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101400

`const_unsafecell_get_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88836

`const_waker`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102012

`container_error_extra`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`control_flow_enum`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75744

`convert_float_to_int`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67057

`core_intrinsics`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`core_panic`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`core_private_bignum`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`core_private_diy_float`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`cow_is_borrowed`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #65143

`cstr_count_bytes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #114441

`cursor_remaining`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86369

`deadline_api`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #46316

`dec2flt`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`derive_clone_copy`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`derive_const`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`derive_eq`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`dir_entry_ext2`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #85573

`discriminant_kind`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`dispatch_from_dyn`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`div_duration`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63139

`downcast_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90850

`drain_keep_rest`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101122

`duration_constants`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #57391

`duration_consts_float`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #72440

`edition_panic`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`entry_insert`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #65225

`error_generic_member_access`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99301

`error_in_core`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #103765

`error_iter`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #58520

`error_reporter`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90172

`error_type_id`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #60784

`exact_size_is_empty`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #35428

`exclusive_wrapper`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98407

`exit_status_error`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #84908

`exitcode_exit_method`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #97100

`extend_one`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #72631

`extract_if`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43244

`fd`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`fd_read`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`file_create_new`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #105135

`file_set_times`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98245

`float_gamma`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99842

`float_minimum_maximum`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91079

`float_next_up_down`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91399

`flt2dec`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`fmt_helpers_for_derive`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`fmt_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`fn_ptr_trait`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`fn_traits`

The tracking issue for this feature is #29625

`forget_unsized`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`format_args_nl`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`fs_try_exists`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #83186

`future_join`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91642

`gen_future`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #50547

`generator_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43122

`generic_assert_internals`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44838

`get_many_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #104642

`get_mut_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63292

`hash_extract_if`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #59618

`hash_raw_entry`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #56167

`hash_set_entry`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #60896

`hasher_prefixfree_extras`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96762

`hashmap_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`hint_must_use`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94745

`inplace_iteration`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`int_roundings`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88581

`integer_atomics`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99069

`internal_impls_macro`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`internal_output_capture`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`io_error_downcast`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99262

`io_error_more`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86442

`io_error_uncategorized`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`io_slice_advance`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #62726

`ip`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27709

`ip_bits`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #113744

`ip_in_core`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #108443

`is_ascii_octdigit`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101288

`is_sorted`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #53485

Add the methods is_sorted, is_sorted_by and is_sorted_by_key to [T]; add the methods is_sorted, is_sorted_by and is_sorted_by_key to Iterator.

`isqrt`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #116226

`iter_advance_by`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77404

`iter_array_chunks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #100450

`iter_collect_into`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94780

`iter_from_generator`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #43122

`iter_intersperse`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79524

`iter_is_partitioned`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #62544

`iter_map_windows`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87155

`iter_next_chunk`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98326

`iter_order_by`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #64295

`iter_partition_in_place`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #62543

`iter_repeat_n`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #104434

`iterator_try_collect`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #94047

`iterator_try_reduce`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #87053

`layout_for_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69835

`lazy_cell`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #109736

`lazy_cell_consume`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #109736

`liballoc_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`libstd_sys_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`linked_list_cursors`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #58533

`linked_list_remove`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69210

`linux_pidfd`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82971

`log_syntax`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #29598

`map_entry_replace`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #44286

`map_many_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #97601

`map_try_insert`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82766

`maybe_uninit_array_assume_init`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96097

`maybe_uninit_as_bytes`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93092

`maybe_uninit_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63569

`maybe_uninit_uninit_array`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96097

`maybe_uninit_uninit_array_transpose`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96097

`maybe_uninit_write_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #79995

`mem_copy_fn`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98262

`more_float_constants`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #103883

`mutex_unlock`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #81872

`mutex_unpoison`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96469

`new_uninit`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #63291

`nonzero_ops`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #84186

`noop_waker`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98286

`num_midpoint`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #110840

`numfmt`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`offset_of`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #106655

`once_cell_try`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #109737

`one_sided_range`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #69780

`option_as_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #108545

`option_get_or_insert_default`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82901

`option_take_if`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98934

`option_zip`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #70086

`panic_abort`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32837

`panic_always_abort`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #84438

`panic_backtrace_config`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93346

`panic_can_unwind`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92988

`panic_info_message`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #66745

`panic_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`panic_unwind`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #32837

`panic_update_hook`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92649

`path_file_prefix`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86319

`pattern`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27721

`peer_credentials_unix_socket`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #42839

`pin_deref_mut`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86918

`pointer_byte_offsets`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96283

`pointer_is_aligned`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96284

`pointer_like_trait`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`portable_simd`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #86656

`prelude_2024`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`print_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`proc_macro_byte_character`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #115268

`proc_macro_def_site`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54724

`proc_macro_diagnostic`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54140

`proc_macro_expand`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90765

`proc_macro_internals`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27812

`proc_macro_quote`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54722

`proc_macro_span`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54725

`proc_macro_tracked_env`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99515

`process_exitcode_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`process_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`profiler_runtime_lib`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`ptr_alignment_type`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #102070

`ptr_as_uninit`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75402

`ptr_from_ref`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #106116

`ptr_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`ptr_mask`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98290

`ptr_metadata`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #81513

`ptr_sub_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95892

`ptr_to_from_bits`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91126

`pub_crate_should_not_need_unstable_attr`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`raw_os_error_ty`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #107792

`raw_os_nonzero`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #82363

`raw_slice_split`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95595

`raw_vec_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`read_buf`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #78485

`ready_into_inner`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #101196

`receiver_trait`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`restricted_std`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`result_flattening`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #70142

`result_option_inspect`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #91345

`round_char_boundary`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93743

`round_ties_even`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96710

`rt`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`sealed`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`seek_stream_len`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #59359

`set_ptr_value`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #75091

`setgroups`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90747

`sgx_platform`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #56975

`sized_type_properties`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`slice_as_chunks`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74985

`slice_concat_ext`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27747

`slice_concat_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #27747

`slice_first_last_chunk`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #111774

`slice_flatten`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95629

`slice_from_ptr_range`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #89792

`slice_group_by`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #80552

`slice_index_methods`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`slice_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`slice_iter_mut_as_mut_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93079

`slice_partition_dedup`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #54279

`slice_pattern`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #56345

`slice_ptr_get`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #74265

`slice_ptr_len`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #71146

`slice_range`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76393

`slice_split_at_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #76014

`slice_swap_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88539

`slice_take`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #62280

`solid_ext`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`sort_floats`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #93396

`sort_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`spec_option_partial_eq`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`split_array`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #90091

`split_as_slice`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96137

`std_internals`

This feature has no tracking issue, and is therefore likely internal to the compiler, not being intended for general use.

`stdio_makes_pipe`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #98288

`stdsimd`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #48556

`step_trait`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #42168

`str_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`str_split_inclusive_remainder`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77998

`str_split_remainder`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77998

`str_split_whitespace_remainder`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #77998

`strict_provenance_atomic_ptr`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #99108

`string_extend_from_within`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #103806

`string_remove_matches`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #72826

`sync_unsafe_cell`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #95439

`tcp_linger`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88494

`tcp_quickack`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #96256

`tcplistener_into_incoming`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #88339

`test`

The tracking issue for this feature is: None.

The internals of the test crate are unstable, behind the test flag. The most widely used part of the test crate are benchmark tests, which can test the performance of your code. Let's make our src/lib.rs look like this (comments elided):

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(test)]

fn main() {
extern crate test;

pub fn add_two(a: i32) -> i32 {
    a + 2
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;
    use test::Bencher;

    #[test]
    fn it_works() {
        assert_eq!(4, add_two(2));
    }

    #[bench]
    fn bench_add_two(b: &mut Bencher) {
        b.iter(|| add_two(2));
    }
}
}

Note the test feature gate, which enables this unstable feature.

We've imported the test crate, which contains our benchmarking support. We have a new function as well, with the bench attribute. Unlike regular tests, which take no arguments, benchmark tests take a &mut Bencher. This Bencher provides an iter method, which takes a closure. This closure contains the code we'd like to benchmark.

We can run benchmark tests with cargo bench:

$ cargo bench
   Compiling adder v0.0.1 (file:///home/steve/tmp/adder)
     Running target/release/adder-91b3e234d4ed382a

running 2 tests
test tests::it_works ... ignored
test tests::bench_add_two ... bench:         1 ns/iter (+/- 0)

test result: ok. 0 passed; 0 failed; 1 ignored; 1 measured

Our non-benchmark test was ignored. You may have noticed that cargo bench takes a bit longer than cargo test. This is because Rust runs our benchmark a number of times, and then takes the average. Because we're doing so little work in this example, we have a 1 ns/iter (+/- 0), but this would show the variance if there was one.

Advice on writing benchmarks:

Move setup code outside the iter loop; only put the part you want to measure inside
Make the code do "the same thing" on each iteration; do not accumulate or change state
Make the outer function idempotent too; the benchmark runner is likely to run it many times
Make the inner iter loop short and fast so benchmark runs are fast and the calibrator can adjust the run-length at fine resolution
Make the code in the iter loop do something simple, to assist in pinpointing performance improvements (or regressions)

Gotcha: optimizations

There's another tricky part to writing benchmarks: benchmarks compiled with optimizations activated can be dramatically changed by the optimizer so that the benchmark is no longer benchmarking what one expects. For example, the compiler might recognize that some calculation has no external effects and remove it entirely.

#![allow(unused)]
#![feature(test)]

fn main() {
extern crate test;
use test::Bencher;

#[bench]
fn bench_xor_1000_ints(b: &mut Bencher) {
    b.iter(|| {
        (0..1000).fold(0, |old, new| old ^ new);
    });
}
}

gives the following results

running 1 test
test bench_xor_1000_ints ... bench:         0 ns/iter (+/- 0)

test result: ok. 0 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 1 measured

The benchmarking runner offers two ways to avoid this. Either, the closure that the iter method receives can return an arbitrary value which forces the optimizer to consider the result used and ensures it cannot remove the computation entirely. This could be done for the example above by adjusting the b.iter call to

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
struct X;
impl X { fn iter<T, F>(&self, _: F) where F: FnMut() -> T {} } let b = X;
b.iter(|| {
    // Note lack of `;` (could also use an explicit `return`).
    (0..1000).fold(0, |old, new| old ^ new)
});
}

Or, the other option is to call the generic test::black_box function, which is an opaque "black box" to the optimizer and so forces it to consider any argument as used.

#![feature(test)]

extern crate test;

fn main() {
struct X;
impl X { fn iter<T, F>(&self, _: F) where F: FnMut() -> T {} } let b = X;
b.iter(|| {
    let n = test::black_box(1000);

    (0..n).fold(0, |a, b| a ^ b)
})
}

Neither of these read or modify the value, and are very cheap for small values. Larger values can be passed indirectly to reduce overhead (e.g. black_box(&huge_struct)).

Performing either of the above changes gives the following benchmarking results

running 1 test
test bench_xor_1000_ints ... bench:       131 ns/iter (+/- 3)

test result: ok. 0 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 1 measured

However, the optimizer can still modify a testcase in an undesirable manner even when using either of the above.

`thin_box`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #92791

`thread_id_value`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #67939

`thread_local_internals`

This feature is internal to the Rust compiler and is not intended for general use.

`thread_sleep_until`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #113752

`thread_spawn_unchecked`

The tracking issue for this feature is: #55132

`trace_macros`

The tracking issue for this feature is #29598.

With trace_macros you can trace the expansion of macros in your code.

Examples

#![feature(trace_macros)]

fn main() {
    trace_macros!(true);
    println!("Hello, Rust!");
    trace_macros!(false);
}

The cargo build output:

note: trace_macro
 --> src/main.rs:5:5
  |
5 |     println!("Hello, Rust!");
  |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  |
  = note: expanding `println! { "Hello, Rust!" }`
  = note: to `print ! ( concat ! ( "Hello, Rust!" , "\n" ) )`
  = note: expanding `print! { concat ! ( "Hello, Rust!" , "\n" ) }`
  = note: to `$crate :: io :: _print ( format_args ! ( concat ! ( "Hello, Rust!" , "\n" ) )
          )`

    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.60 secs