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@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
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# Unbounded Lifetimes
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Unsafe code can often end up producing references or lifetimes out of thin air.
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Such lifetimes come into the world as *unbounded*. The most common source of this
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is dereferencing a raw pointer, which produces a reference with an unbounded lifetime.
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Such a lifetime becomes as big as context demands. This is in fact more powerful
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than simply becoming `'static`, because for instance `&'static &'a T`
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will fail to typecheck, but the unbound lifetime will perfectly mold into
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`&'a &'a T` as needed. However for most intents and purposes, such an unbounded
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lifetime can be regarded as `'static`.
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Such lifetimes come into the world as *unbounded*. The most common source of
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this is taking a reference to a dereferenced raw pointer, which produces a
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reference with an unbounded lifetime. Such a lifetime becomes as big as context
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demands. This is in fact more powerful than simply becoming `'static`, because
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for instance `&'static &'a T` will fail to typecheck, but the unbound lifetime
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will perfectly mold into `&'a &'a T` as needed. However for most intents and
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purposes, such an unbounded lifetime can be regarded as `'static`.
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Almost no reference is `'static`, so this is probably wrong. `transmute` and
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`transmute_copy` are the two other primary offenders. One should endeavor to
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@ -17,17 +17,24 @@ boundaries.
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Given a function, any output lifetimes that don't derive from inputs are
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unbounded. For instance:
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<!-- ignore: simplified code -->
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```rust,ignore
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fn get_str<'a>() -> &'a str;
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```rust
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fn get_str<'a>(s: *const String) -> &'a str {
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unsafe { &*s }
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}
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fn main() {
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let soon_dropped = String::from("hello");
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let dangling = get_str(&soon_dropped);
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drop(soon_dropped);
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println!("Invalid str: {}", dangling); // Invalid str: gӚ_`
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}
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```
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will produce an `&str` with an unbounded lifetime. The easiest way to avoid
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unbounded lifetimes is to use lifetime elision at the function boundary.
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If an output lifetime is elided, then it *must* be bounded by an input lifetime.
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Of course it might be bounded by the *wrong* lifetime, but this will usually
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just cause a compiler error, rather than allow memory safety to be trivially
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violated.
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The easiest way to avoid unbounded lifetimes is to use lifetime elision at the
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function boundary. If an output lifetime is elided, then it *must* be bounded by
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an input lifetime. Of course it might be bounded by the *wrong* lifetime, but
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this will usually just cause a compiler error, rather than allow memory safety
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to be trivially violated.
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Within a function, bounding lifetimes is more error-prone. The safest and easiest
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way to bound a lifetime is to return it from a function with a bound lifetime.
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