301 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
301 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# Miri [](https://travis-ci.com/rust-lang/miri) [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/rust-lang-libs/miri)
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An experimental interpreter for [Rust][rust]'s
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[mid-level intermediate representation][mir] (MIR). It can run binaries and
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test suites of cargo projects and detect certain classes of
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[undefined behavior](https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/behavior-considered-undefined.html),
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for example:
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* Out-of-bounds memory accesses and use-after-free
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* Invalid use of uninitialized data
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* Violation of intrinsic preconditions (an [`unreachable_unchecked`] being
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reached, calling [`copy_nonoverlapping`] with overlapping ranges, ...)
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* Not sufficiently aligned memory accesses and references
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* Violation of *some* basic type invariants (a `bool` that is not 0 or 1, for example,
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or an invalid enum discriminant)
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* **Experimental**: Violations of the [Stacked Borrows] rules governing aliasing
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for reference types
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On top of that, Miri will also tell you about memory leaks: when there is memory
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still allocated at the end of the execution, and that memory is not reachable
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from a global `static`, Miri will raise an error. Note however that
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[leak checking is currently disabled on Windows targets](https://github.com/rust-lang/miri/issues/1302).
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Miri has already discovered some [real-world bugs](#bugs-found-by-miri). If you
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found a bug with Miri, we'd appreciate if you tell us and we'll add it to the
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list!
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However, be aware that Miri will **not catch all cases of undefined behavior**
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in your program, and cannot run all programs:
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* There are still plenty of open questions around the basic invariants for some
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types and when these invariants even have to hold. Miri tries to avoid false
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positives here, so if you program runs fine in Miri right now that is by no
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means a guarantee that it is UB-free when these questions get answered.
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In particular, Miri does currently not check that integers/floats are
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initialized or that references point to valid data.
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* If the program relies on unspecified details of how data is laid out, it will
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still run fine in Miri -- but might break (including causing UB) on different
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compiler versions or different platforms.
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* Program execution is non-deterministic when it depends, for example, on where
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exactly in memory allocations end up. Miri tests one of many possible
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executions of your program. If your code is sensitive to allocation base
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addresses or other non-deterministic data, try running Miri with different
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values for `-Zmiri-seed` to test different executions.
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* Miri runs the program as a platform-independent interpreter, so the program
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has no access to most platform-specific APIs or FFI. A few APIs have been
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implemented (such as printing to stdout) but most have not: for example, Miri
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currently does not support SIMD or networking.
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* Miri currently does not check for data-races and other concurrency related
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issues.
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[rust]: https://www.rust-lang.org/
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[mir]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/1211-mir.md
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[`unreachable_unchecked`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/hint/fn.unreachable_unchecked.html
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[`copy_nonoverlapping`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/std/ptr/fn.copy_nonoverlapping.html
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[Stacked Borrows]: https://github.com/rust-lang/unsafe-code-guidelines/blob/master/wip/stacked-borrows.md
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## Using Miri
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Install Miri on Rust nightly via `rustup`:
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```sh
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rustup +nightly component add miri
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```
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If `rustup` says the `miri` component is unavailable, that's because not all
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nightly releases come with all tools. Check out
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[this website](https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup-components-history) to
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determine a nightly version that comes with Miri and install that using
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`rustup toolchain install nightly-YYYY-MM-DD`.
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Now you can run your project in Miri:
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1. Run `cargo clean` to eliminate any cached dependencies. Miri needs your
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dependencies to be compiled the right way, that would not happen if they have
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previously already been compiled.
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2. To run all tests in your project through Miri, use `cargo miri test`.
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3. If you have a binary project, you can run it through Miri using `cargo miri run`.
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The first time you run Miri, it will perform some extra setup and install some
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dependencies. It will ask you for confirmation before installing anything.
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Miri supports cross-execution: if you want to run the program as if it was a
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Linux program, you can do `cargo miri run --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu`.
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This is particularly useful if you are using Windows, as the Linux target is
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much better supported than Windows targets.
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You can pass arguments to Miri after the first `--`, and pass arguments to the
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interpreted program or test suite after the second `--`. For example, `cargo
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miri run -- -Zmiri-disable-validation` runs the program without validation of
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basic type invariants and without checking the aliasing of references.
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When compiling code via `cargo miri`, the `miri` config flag is set. You can
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use this to ignore test cases that fail under Miri because they do things Miri
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does not support:
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```rust
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#[test]
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#[cfg_attr(miri, ignore)]
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fn does_not_work_on_miri() {
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std::thread::spawn(|| println!("Hello Thread!"))
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.join()
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.unwrap();
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}
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```
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There is no way to list all the infinite things Miri cannot do, but the
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interpreter will explicitly tell you when it finds something unsupported:
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```
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error: unsupported operation: Miri does not support threading
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...
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= help: this is likely not a bug in the program; it indicates that the program \
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performed an operation that the interpreter does not support
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```
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### Running Miri on CI
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To run Miri on CI, make sure that you handle the case where the latest nightly
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does not ship the Miri component because it currently does not build. For
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example, you can use the following snippet to always test with the latest
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nightly that *does* come with Miri:
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```sh
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MIRI_NIGHTLY=nightly-$(curl -s https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup-components-history/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/miri)
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echo "Installing latest nightly with Miri: $MIRI_NIGHTLY"
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rustup set profile minimal
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rustup default "$MIRI_NIGHTLY"
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rustup component add miri
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cargo miri test
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```
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### Common Problems
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When using the above instructions, you may encounter a number of confusing compiler
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errors.
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#### "found possibly newer version of crate `std` which `<dependency>` depends on"
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Your build directory may contain artifacts from an earlier build that have/have
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not been built for Miri. Run `cargo clean` before switching from non-Miri to
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Miri builds and vice-versa.
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#### "found crate `std` compiled by an incompatible version of rustc"
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You may be running `cargo miri` with a different compiler version than the one
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used to build the custom libstd that Miri uses, and Miri failed to detect that.
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Try deleting `~/.cache/miri`.
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#### "no mir for `std::rt::lang_start_internal`"
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This means the sysroot you are using was not compiled with Miri in mind. This
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should never happen when you use `cargo miri` because that takes care of setting
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up the sysroot. If you are using `miri` (the Miri driver) directly, see
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[below][testing-miri] for how to set up the sysroot.
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## Miri `-Z` flags and environment variables
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[miri-flags]: #miri--z-flags-and-environment-variables
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Miri adds its own set of `-Z` flags:
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* `-Zmiri-disable-alignment-check` disables checking pointer alignment. This is
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useful to avoid [false positives][alignment-false-positives]. However, setting
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this flag means Miri could miss bugs in your program.
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* `-Zmiri-disable-stacked-borrows` disables checking the experimental
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[Stacked Borrows] aliasing rules. This can make Miri run faster, but it also
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means no aliasing violations will be detected.
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* `-Zmiri-disable-validation` disables enforcing validity invariants, which are
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enforced by default. This is mostly useful to focus on other failures (such
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as out-of-bounds accesses) first. Setting this flag means Miri will miss bugs
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in your program. However, this can also help to make Miri run faster.
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* `-Zmiri-disable-isolation` disables host isolation. As a consequence,
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the program has access to host resources such as environment variables, file
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systems, and randomness.
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* `-Zmiri-env-exclude=<var>` keeps the `var` environment variable isolated from
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the host so that it cannot be accessed by the program. Can be used multiple
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times to exclude several variables. On Windows, the `TERM` environment
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variable is excluded by default.
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* `-Zmiri-ignore-leaks` disables the memory leak checker.
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* `-Zmiri-seed=<hex>` configures the seed of the RNG that Miri uses to resolve
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non-determinism. This RNG is used to pick base addresses for allocations.
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When isolation is enabled (the default), this is also used to emulate system
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entropy. The default seed is 0. **NOTE**: This entropy is not good enough
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for cryptographic use! Do not generate secret keys in Miri or perform other
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kinds of cryptographic operations that rely on proper random numbers.
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* `-Zmiri-track-alloc-id=<id>` shows a backtrace when the given allocation is
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being allocated or freed. This helps in debugging memory leaks and
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use after free bugs.
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* `-Zmiri-track-pointer-tag=<tag>` shows a backtrace when the given pointer tag
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is popped from a borrow stack (which is where the tag becomes invalid and any
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future use of it will error). This helps you in finding out why UB is
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happening and where in your code would be a good place to look for it.
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[alignment-false-positives]: https://github.com/rust-lang/miri/issues/1074
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Some native rustc `-Z` flags are also very relevant for Miri:
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* `-Zmir-opt-level` controls how many MIR optimizations are performed. Miri
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overrides the default to be `0`; be advised that using any higher level can
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make Miri miss bugs in your program because they got optimized away.
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* `-Zalways-encode-mir` makes rustc dump MIR even for completely monomorphic
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functions. This is needed so that Miri can execute such functions, so Miri
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sets this flag per default.
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* `-Zmir-emit-retag` controls whether `Retag` statements are emitted. Miri
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enables this per default because it is needed for [Stacked Borrows].
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Moreover, Miri recognizes some environment variables:
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* `MIRI_LOG`, `MIRI_BACKTRACE` control logging and backtrace printing during
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Miri executions, also [see above][testing-miri].
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* `MIRI_SYSROOT` (recognized by `cargo miri` and the test suite)
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indicates the sysroot to use. To do the same thing with `miri`
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directly, use the `--sysroot` flag.
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* `MIRI_TEST_TARGET` (recognized by the test suite) indicates which target
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architecture to test against. `miri` and `cargo miri` accept the `--target`
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flag for the same purpose.
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* `MIRI_TEST_FLAGS` (recognized by the test suite) defines extra flags to be
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passed to Miri.
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## Contributing and getting help
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If you want to contribute to Miri, great! Please check out our
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[contribution guide](CONTRIBUTING.md).
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For help with running Miri, you can open an issue here on
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GitHub or contact us (`oli-obk` and `RalfJ`) on the [Rust Zulip].
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[Rust Zulip]: https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com
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## History
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This project began as part of an undergraduate research course in 2015 by
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@solson at the [University of Saskatchewan][usask]. There are [slides] and a
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[report] available from that project. In 2016, @oli-obk joined to prepare miri
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for eventually being used as const evaluator in the Rust compiler itself
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(basically, for `const` and `static` stuff), replacing the old evaluator that
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worked directly on the AST. In 2017, @RalfJung did an internship with Mozilla
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and began developing miri towards a tool for detecting undefined behavior, and
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also using miri as a way to explore the consequences of various possible
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definitions for undefined behavior in Rust. @oli-obk's move of the miri engine
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into the compiler finally came to completion in early 2018. Meanwhile, later
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that year, @RalfJung did a second internship, developing miri further with
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support for checking basic type invariants and verifying that references are
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used according to their aliasing restrictions.
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[usask]: https://www.usask.ca/
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[slides]: https://solson.me/miri-slides.pdf
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[report]: https://solson.me/miri-report.pdf
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## Bugs found by Miri
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Miri has already found a number of bugs in the Rust standard library and beyond, which we collect here.
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Definite bugs found:
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* [`Debug for vec_deque::Iter` accessing uninitialized memory](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/53566)
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* [`Vec::into_iter` doing an unaligned ZST read](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/53804)
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* [`From<&[T]> for Rc` creating a not sufficiently aligned reference](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/54908)
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* [`BTreeMap` creating a shared reference pointing to a too small allocation](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/54957)
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* [`Vec::append` creating a dangling reference](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/61082)
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* [Futures turning a shared reference into a mutable one](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/56319)
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* [`str` turning a shared reference into a mutable one](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/58200)
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* [`rand` performing unaligned reads](https://github.com/rust-random/rand/issues/779)
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* [The Unix allocator calling `posix_memalign` in an invalid way](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/62251)
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* [`getrandom` calling the `getrandom` syscall in an invalid way](https://github.com/rust-random/getrandom/pull/73)
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* [`Vec`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/69770) and [`BTreeMap`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/69769) leaking memory under some (panicky) conditions
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* [Memory leak in `beef`](https://github.com/maciejhirsz/beef/issues/12)
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* [Invalid use of undefined memory in `EbrCell`](https://github.com/Firstyear/concread/commit/b15be53b6ec076acb295a5c0483cdb4bf9be838f#diff-6282b2fc8e98bd089a1f0c86f648157cR229)
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* [Unaligned pointer access in TiKV](https://github.com/tikv/tikv/issues/7613)
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Violations of [Stacked Borrows] found that are likely bugs (but Stacked Borrows is currently just an experiment):
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* [`VecDeque` creating overlapping mutable references](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/56161)
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* [`BTreeMap` creating mutable references that overlap with shared references](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/58431)
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* [`LinkedList` creating overlapping mutable references](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/60072)
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* [`Vec::push` invalidating existing references into the vector](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/60847)
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* [`align_to_mut` violating uniqueness of mutable references](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/68549)
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* [Aliasing mutable references in `sized-chunks`](https://github.com/bodil/sized-chunks/issues/8)
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* [`String::push_str` invalidating existing references into the string](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/70301)
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* [`ryu` using raw pointers outside their valid memory area](https://github.com/dtolnay/ryu/issues/24)
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* [ink! creating overlapping mutable references](https://github.com/rust-lang/miri/issues/1364)
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## License
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Licensed under either of
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* Apache License, Version 2.0 ([LICENSE-APACHE](LICENSE-APACHE) or
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http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
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* MIT license ([LICENSE-MIT](LICENSE-MIT) or
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http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) at your option.
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### Contribution
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Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted
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for inclusion in the work by you shall be dual licensed as above, without any
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additional terms or conditions.
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