Add GlobalAlloc trait + tweaks for initial stabilization This is the outcome of discussion at the Rust All Hands in Berlin. The high-level goal is stabilizing sooner rather than later the ability to [change the global allocator](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/27389), as well as allocating memory without abusing `Vec::with_capacity` + `mem::forget`. Since we’re not ready to settle every detail of the `Alloc` trait for the purpose of collections that are generic over the allocator type (for example the possibility of a separate trait for deallocation only, and what that would look like exactly), we propose introducing separately **a new `GlobalAlloc` trait**, for use with the `#[global_allocator]` attribute. We also propose a number of changes to existing APIs. They are batched in this one PR in order to minimize disruption to Nightly users. The plan for initial stabilization is detailed in the tracking issue https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/49668. CC @rust-lang/libs, @glandium ## Immediate breaking changes to unstable features * For pointers to allocated memory, change the pointed type from `u8` to `Opaque`, a new public [extern type](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/43467). Since extern types are not `Sized`, `<*mut _>::offset` cannot be used without first casting to another pointer type. (We hope that extern types can also be stabilized soon.) * In the `Alloc` trait, change these pointers to `ptr::NonNull` and change the `AllocErr` type to a zero-size struct. This makes return types `Result<ptr::NonNull<Opaque>, AllocErr>` be pointer-sized. * Instead of a new `Layout`, `realloc` takes only a new size (in addition to the pointer and old `Layout`). Changing the alignment is not supported with `realloc`. * Change the return type of `Layout::from_size_align` from `Option<Self>` to `Result<Self, LayoutErr>`, with `LayoutErr` a new opaque struct. * A `static` item registered as the global allocator with the `#[global_allocator]` **must now implement the new `GlobalAlloc` trait** instead of `Alloc`. ## Eventually-breaking changes to unstable features, with a deprecation period * Rename the respective `heap` modules to `alloc` in the `core`, `alloc`, and `std` crates. (Yes, this does mean that `::alloc::alloc::Alloc::alloc` is a valid path to a trait method if you have `exetrn crate alloc;`) * Rename the the `Heap` type to `Global`, since it is the entry point for what’s registered with `#[global_allocator]`. Old names remain available for now, as deprecated `pub use` reexports. ## Backward-compatible changes * Add a new [extern type](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/43467) `Opaque`, for use in pointers to allocated memory. * Add a new `GlobalAlloc` trait shown below. Unlike `Alloc`, it uses bare `*mut Opaque` without `NonNull` or `Result`. NULL in return values indicates an error (of unspecified nature). This is easier to implement on top of `malloc`-like APIs. * Add impls of `GlobalAlloc` for both the `Global` and `System` types, in addition to existing impls of `Alloc`. This enables calling `GlobalAlloc` methods on the stable channel before `Alloc` is stable. Implementing two traits with identical method names can make some calls ambiguous, but most code is expected to have no more than one of the two traits in scope. Erroneous code like `use std::alloc::Global; #[global_allocator] static A: Global = Global;` (where `Global` is defined to call itself, causing infinite recursion) is not statically prevented by the type system, but we count on it being hard enough to do accidentally and easy enough to diagnose. ```rust extern { pub type Opaque; } pub unsafe trait GlobalAlloc { unsafe fn alloc(&self, layout: Layout) -> *mut Opaque; unsafe fn dealloc(&self, ptr: *mut Opaque, layout: Layout); unsafe fn alloc_zeroed(&self, layout: Layout) -> *mut Opaque { // Default impl: self.alloc() and ptr::write_bytes() } unsafe fn realloc(&self, ptr: *mut Opaque, old_layout: Layout, new_size: usize) -> *mut Opaque { // Default impl: self.alloc() and ptr::copy_nonoverlapping() and self.dealloc() } fn oom(&self) -> ! { // intrinsics::abort } // More methods with default impls may be added in the future } ``` ## Bikeshed The tracking issue https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/49668 lists some open questions. If consensus is reached before this PR is merged, changes can be integrated.
The Rust Programming Language
This is the main source code repository for Rust. It contains the compiler, standard library, and documentation.
Quick Start
Read "Installation" from The Book.
Building from Source
Building on *nix
-
Make sure you have installed the dependencies:
g++
4.7 or later orclang++
3.x or laterpython
2.7 (but not 3.x)- GNU
make
3.81 or later cmake
3.4.3 or latercurl
git
-
Clone the source with
git
:$ git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/rust.git $ cd rust
-
Build and install:
$ ./x.py build && sudo ./x.py install
Note: Install locations can be adjusted by copying the config file from
./config.toml.example
to./config.toml
, and adjusting theprefix
option under[install]
. Various other options, such as enabling debug information, are also supported, and are documented in the config file.When complete,
sudo ./x.py install
will place several programs into/usr/local/bin
:rustc
, the Rust compiler, andrustdoc
, the API-documentation tool. This install does not include Cargo, Rust's package manager, which you may also want to build.
Building on Windows
There are two prominent ABIs in use on Windows: the native (MSVC) ABI used by Visual Studio, and the GNU ABI used by the GCC toolchain. Which version of Rust you need depends largely on what C/C++ libraries you want to interoperate with: for interop with software produced by Visual Studio use the MSVC build of Rust; for interop with GNU software built using the MinGW/MSYS2 toolchain use the GNU build.
MinGW
MSYS2 can be used to easily build Rust on Windows:
-
Grab the latest MSYS2 installer and go through the installer.
-
Run
mingw32_shell.bat
ormingw64_shell.bat
from wherever you installed MSYS2 (i.e.C:\msys64
), depending on whether you want 32-bit or 64-bit Rust. (As of the latest version of MSYS2 you have to runmsys2_shell.cmd -mingw32
ormsys2_shell.cmd -mingw64
from the command line instead) -
From this terminal, install the required tools:
# Update package mirrors (may be needed if you have a fresh install of MSYS2) $ pacman -Sy pacman-mirrors # Install build tools needed for Rust. If you're building a 32-bit compiler, # then replace "x86_64" below with "i686". If you've already got git, python, # or CMake installed and in PATH you can remove them from this list. Note # that it is important that you do **not** use the 'python2' and 'cmake' # packages from the 'msys2' subsystem. The build has historically been known # to fail with these packages. $ pacman -S git \ make \ diffutils \ tar \ mingw-w64-x86_64-python2 \ mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake \ mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc
-
Navigate to Rust's source code (or clone it), then build it:
$ ./x.py build && ./x.py install
MSVC
MSVC builds of Rust additionally require an installation of Visual Studio 2013
(or later) so rustc
can use its linker. Make sure to check the “C++ tools”
option.
With these dependencies installed, you can build the compiler in a cmd.exe
shell with:
> python x.py build
Currently building Rust only works with some known versions of Visual Studio. If you have a more recent version installed the build system doesn't understand then you may need to force rustbuild to use an older version. This can be done by manually calling the appropriate vcvars file before running the bootstrap.
CALL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\amd64\vcvars64.bat"
python x.py build
Specifying an ABI
Each specific ABI can also be used from either environment (for example, using the GNU ABI in powershell) by using an explicit build triple. The available Windows build triples are:
- GNU ABI (using GCC)
i686-pc-windows-gnu
x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
- The MSVC ABI
i686-pc-windows-msvc
x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
The build triple can be specified by either specifying --build=<triple>
when
invoking x.py
commands, or by copying the config.toml
file (as described
in Building From Source), and modifying the build
option under the [build]
section.
Configure and Make
While it's not the recommended build system, this project also provides a
configure script and makefile (the latter of which just invokes x.py
).
$ ./configure
$ make && sudo make install
When using the configure script, the generated config.mk
file may override the
config.toml
file. To go back to the config.toml
file, delete the generated
config.mk
file.
Building Documentation
If you’d like to build the documentation, it’s almost the same:
$ ./x.py doc
The generated documentation will appear under doc
in the build
directory for
the ABI used. I.e., if the ABI was x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
, the directory will be
build\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\doc
.
Notes
Since the Rust compiler is written in Rust, it must be built by a precompiled "snapshot" version of itself (made in an earlier state of development). As such, source builds require a connection to the Internet, to fetch snapshots, and an OS that can execute the available snapshot binaries.
Snapshot binaries are currently built and tested on several platforms:
Platform / Architecture | x86 | x86_64 |
---|---|---|
Windows (7, 8, Server 2008 R2) | ✓ | ✓ |
Linux (2.6.18 or later) | ✓ | ✓ |
OSX (10.7 Lion or later) | ✓ | ✓ |
You may find that other platforms work, but these are our officially supported build environments that are most likely to work.
Rust currently needs between 600MiB and 1.5GiB of RAM to build, depending on platform. If it hits swap, it will take a very long time to build.
There is more advice about hacking on Rust in CONTRIBUTING.md.
Getting Help
The Rust community congregates in a few places:
- Stack Overflow - Direct questions about using the language.
- users.rust-lang.org - General discussion and broader questions.
- /r/rust - News and general discussion.
Contributing
To contribute to Rust, please see CONTRIBUTING.
Rust has an IRC culture and most real-time collaboration happens in a variety of channels on Mozilla's IRC network, irc.mozilla.org. The most popular channel is #rust, a venue for general discussion about Rust. And a good place to ask for help would be #rust-beginners.
Also, the rustc guide might be a good place to start if you want to find out how various parts of the compiler work.
License
Rust is primarily distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0), with portions covered by various BSD-like licenses.
See LICENSE-APACHE, LICENSE-MIT, and COPYRIGHT for details.