Error compiling problem case #4 from nll-rfc

[fpoli]

UPDATE: This example works now, but needs someone to add a test. See mentoring instructions below.

---

I'm trying to compile some examples using nonlexical lifetimes. To do so, I'm compiling rustc using the master branch, and the -Z nll compiler option.

rustc 1.24.0-dev
binary: rustc
commit-hash: unknown
commit-date: unknown
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
release: 1.24.0-dev
LLVM version: 4.0

By compiling "Problem case 4: mutating &mut references" from nll-rfc, I get some errors.

Program

struct List<T> {
    value: T,
    next: Option<Box<List<T>>>,
}

fn to_refs<T>(mut list: &mut List<T>) -> Vec<&mut T> {
    let mut result = vec![];
    loop {
        result.push(&mut list.value);
        if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
            list = &mut n;
        } else {
            return result;
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    println!("Hello World!");
}

Output of `rustc -g -Zverbose -Znll nll-problem-case-4.rs`:

error[E0597]: `n` does not live long enough
  --> nll-problem-case-4.rs:11:25
   |
11 |             list = &mut n;
   |                         ^ does not live long enough
...
14 |         }
   |         - borrowed value only lives until here
   |
note: borrowed value must be valid for the anonymous lifetime #1 defined on the function body at 6:1...
  --> nll-problem-case-4.rs:6:1
   |
6  | / fn to_refs<T>(mut list: &mut List<T>) -> Vec<&mut T> {
7  | |     let mut result = vec![];
8  | |     loop {
9  | |         result.push(&mut list.value);
...  |
15 | |     }
16 | | }
   | |_^

error[E0499]: cannot borrow `list.value` as mutable more than once at a time
  --> nll-problem-case-4.rs:9:26
   |
9  |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                          ^^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
...
16 | }
   | - mutable borrow ends here

error[E0499]: cannot borrow `list.next` as mutable more than once at a time
  --> nll-problem-case-4.rs:10:26
   |
10 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
   |                          ^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
...
16 | }
   | - mutable borrow ends here

error[E0506]: cannot assign to `list` because it is borrowed
  --> nll-problem-case-4.rs:11:13
   |
9  |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                          ---------- borrow of `list` occurs here
10 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
11 |             list = &mut n;
   |             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ assignment to borrowed `list` occurs here

error: aborting due to 4 previous errors

My questions are:

• Am I enabling correctly the experimental nll? What confuses me is that I compiled rustc with ./configure --enable-debug --enable-debuginfo, but I still don't see the debug!("mir_borrowck done"); message from the compiler.
• Is "problem case 4" supposed to compile without errors in the future, when nll will be stable?

[matthewjasper]

Am I enabling correctly the experimental nll

You need to pass -Z borrowck=mir or -Z borrowck=compare as well as -Z nll for now.
The example should have list = n on line 11 (n is already a mutable reference).
After that it still fails to compile. (Even worse it gains an error)

Output with -Z borrowck=compare -Znll

An immutable local variable or function argument

[Variables]: expressions/variables.html
[temporay]: expressions.html#temporary-lifetimes
error[E0499]: cannot borrow `list.value` as mutable more than once at a time (Ast)
--> <source>:11:26
   |
11 |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                          ^^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
...
18 | }
  | - mutable borrow ends here
error[E0499]: cannot borrow `list.next` as mutable more than once at a time (Ast)
--> <source>:12:26
   |
12 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
   |                          ^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
...
18 | }
   | - mutable borrow ends here
error[E0506]: cannot assign to `list` because it is borrowed (Ast)
--> <source>:13:13
   |
11 |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                          ---------- borrow of `list` occurs here
12 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
13 |             list = n;
   |             ^^^^^^^^ assignment to borrowed `list` occurs here
error[E0499]: cannot borrow `list.value` as mutable more than once at a time (Mir)
--> <source>:11:21
   |
11 |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
error[E0506]: cannot assign to `n` because it is borrowed (Mir)
--> <source>:12:21
   |
12 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
   |                     ^ assignment to borrowed `n` occurs here
13 |             list = n;
   |             -------- borrow of `n` occurs here
error[E0506]: cannot assign to `list` because it is borrowed (Mir)
--> <source>:13:13
   |
11 |         result.push(&mut list.value);
   |                     --------------- borrow of `list` occurs here
12 |         if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
13 |             list = n;
   |             ^^^^^^^^ assignment to borrowed `list` occurs here
error[E0499]: cannot borrow `**n` as mutable more than once at a time (Mir)
--> <source>:13:13
   |
13 |             list = n;
   |             ^^^^^^^^ mutable borrow starts here in previous iteration of loop
error: aborting due to 7 previous errors
Compiler exited with result code 101

[nikomatsakis]

You can now use #![feature(nll)]

[nikomatsakis]

With some small tweaks (unrelated to NLL), the example compiles now.

#![feature(nll)]

struct List<T> {
    value: T,
    next: Option<Box<List<T>>>,
}

fn to_refs<T>(mut list: &mut List<T>) -> Vec<&mut T> {
    let mut result = vec![];
    loop {
        result.push(&mut list.value);
        if let Some(n) = list.next.as_mut() {
            list = n;
        } else {
            return result;
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    println!("Hello World!");
}

[nikomatsakis]

We don't have a test specifically targeting this case, I don't think. It'd be good to make one. It should go in this directory:

https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/tree/master/src/test/run-pass/nll

[nikomatsakis]

Mentoring instructions

Add a modified version of the example from this example into src/test/run-pass/nll with a suitable license. We should also modify the main() function to actually execute the code.

[ritiek]

I'll add the test.