Re: [PATCH v3 03/16] rust: mem: add `AsRepr` and `AsReprMut`

["Gary Guo" <gary@garyguo.net>]

On Wed Aug 26, 2026 at 12:25 PM BST, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
> On Wed Aug 19, 2026 at 8:09 PM JST, Gary Guo wrote:
>> Some API like atomics and I/O operate on primitives only; therefore other
>> types would need to converted to these primitive first. Add two traits
>> `AsRepr` and `AsReprMut` to indicate that the type can be turned into a
>> primitive for these operations.
>>
>> Conceptually, `T: AsRepr` means that `&T` can be viewed as `&T::Repr` and
>> thus it has only a round-trip transmutability requirement. `T: AsReprMut`
>> means that `&mut T` can be viewed as `&mut T::Repr` and thus it needs to
>> support bi-directional transmutability.
>>
>> To avoid duplicating implementation, all repr types are normalized to
>> unsigned integers.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Gary Guo <gary@garyguo.net>
>> ---
>>  rust/kernel/mem.rs | 148 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>  1 file changed, 148 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/rust/kernel/mem.rs b/rust/kernel/mem.rs
>> index a0901cbe1b2d..5bce381d8895 100644
>> --- a/rust/kernel/mem.rs
>> +++ b/rust/kernel/mem.rs
>> @@ -35,3 +35,151 @@ pub const fn transmute<Src: IntoBytes, Dst: FromBytes>(val: Src) -> Dst {
>>      // SAFETY: transmute is safe with `IntoBytes` and `FromBytes` bounds.
>>      unsafe { transmute_unchecked(val) }
>>  }
>> +
>> +/// Type that is layout-compatible with a primitive representation.
>> +///
>> +/// # Round-trip transmutability
>> +///
>> +/// `T` is round-trip transmutable to `U` if and only if both of these properties hold:
>> +///
>> +/// - Any valid bit pattern for `T` is also a valid bit pattern for `U`.
>> +/// - Transmuting a value of type `T` to `U` and then to `T` again
>> +///   yields a value that is in all aspects equivalent to the original value.
>> +///
>> +/// # Safety
>> +///
>> +/// - [`Self`] must have the same size and alignment as [`Self::Repr`].
>> +/// - [`Self`] must be [round-trip transmutable] to  [`Self::Repr`].
>> +///
>> +/// [round-trip transmutable]: AsRepr#round-trip-transmutability
>> +pub unsafe trait AsRepr: Sized {
>
> I'm a bit confused by the naming of this trait - the commit message
> mentions that it means that "`&T` can be viewed as `&T::Repr`", but such
> a method doesn't exist. Instead we have an `AsRepr` trait with an
> `into_repr` method that makes a copy.
>
> Can we either rename this to `IntoRepr` (and `AsReprMut` into `FromRepr`
> I guess?), or maybe better, have `fn as_repr(this: &Self) ->
> &Self::Repr` (on top of which `into_repr` could be implemented if
> useful) so the names of the trait and provided method align, while also
> making the commit message match the actual API? I haven't tried but
> since all the representations we are working with are primitives that
> implement `Copy`, I intuitively think it should work just as well.
>
> Same would apply to `AsReprMut`.
>
> Since this is becoming core infrastructure, I guess `as_repr` will also
> become valuable when we want to do in-place access (with e.g. atomics)
> or use it with larger types that we don't want to copy.

Good point. I'll add a `Repr: Copy` bound and switch impl of `as_repr`.

`AsRepr` is meant as "have a primitive representation", which I imagine to be
most likely just integers. I didn't say "integers" specifically because we
cannot lose provenance on pointers so pointers are not integer represented.

So I do think we might also want to make `Copy` a supertrait of `AsRepr`?
`AtomicType` current requires it.

>
>> +    /// Primitive representation of this type.
>> +    type Repr;
>> +
>> +    /// Convert from [`AsRepr::Repr`] to `Self`.
>> +    ///
>> +    /// # Safety
>> +    ///
>> +    /// `repr` must be a valid bit patern of `Self`. If `repr` is previously obtained using
>
> nit: s/patern/pattern.
>
>> +    /// [`AsRepr::into_repr`], then it will always be safe.
>> +    #[inline(always)]
>> +    unsafe fn from_repr_unchecked(repr: Self::Repr) -> Self {
>> +        // SAFETY: Per safety requirement of the trait.
>
> "... of the trait and method" maybe?
>
>> +        unsafe { transmute_unchecked(repr) }
>> +    }
>> +
>> +    /// Convert from `Self` to [`AsRepr::Repr`].
>> +    #[inline(always)]
>> +    fn into_repr(this: Self) -> Self::Repr {
>> +        // SAFETY: Per safety requirement of the trait.
>> +        unsafe { transmute_unchecked(this) }
>> +    }
>> +}
>> +
>> +/// Type that is bi-directionally transmutable with a primitive representation.
>> +///
>> +/// # Safety
>> +///
>> +/// - [`Self`] must be [transmutable] from [`Self::Repr`].
>
> nit: missing backticks on [transmutable].

Ah, this is a term. I should remove backtick from the link instead.

>
> <...>
>> +#[cfg(target_pointer_width = "32")]
>> +const _: () = {
>> +    // SAFETY: usize has the same size and alignment with u32, and is round-trip transmutable to it.
>> +    unsafe impl AsRepr for usize {
>> +        type Repr = u32;
>> +    }
>> +
>> +    // SAFETY: isize has the same size and alignment with u32, and is round-trip transmutable to it.
>> +    unsafe impl AsRepr for isize {
>> +        type Repr = u32;
>> +    }
>> +
>> +    // SAFETY: usize is transmutable from u32.
>> +    unsafe impl AsReprMut for usize {}
>> +    // SAFETY: isize is transmutable from u32.
>> +    unsafe impl AsReprMut for isize {}
>> +};
>> +
>> +#[cfg(target_pointer_width = "64")]
>> +const _: () = {
>> +    // SAFETY: usize has the same size and alignment with u64, and is round-trip transmutable to it.
>> +    unsafe impl AsRepr for usize {
>> +        type Repr = u64;
>> +    }
>> +
>> +    // SAFETY: isize has the same size and alignment with u64, and is round-trip transmutable to it.
>> +    unsafe impl AsRepr for isize {
>> +        type Repr = u64;
>> +    }
>> +
>> +    // SAFETY: usize is transmutable from u64.
>> +    unsafe impl AsReprMut for usize {}
>> +    // SAFETY: isize is transmutable from u64.
>> +    unsafe impl AsReprMut for isize {}
>> +};
>
> By making these available, aren't we running into the same
> non-portability issue [1] that we discussed on the `casts` module?
>
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/DK9A6KGK5JQD.3U23MBEMSAXBK@garyguo.net/

I added it because `Atomic` would require it. However, it does make it possible
to create non-portable if `usize` is used on a `I/O` type that does not
implement `IoCapable<u64>` on 64-bit platforms.

I guess an option is to have `usize` stay as `usize` and we add a forwarding
`usize` impl in atomic module instead.

Best,
Gary