Re: [PATCH 1/5] rust: ptr: add panicking index projection variant

Gary Guo
2026-04-29T11:29:53Z

On Wed Apr 29, 2026 at 12:22 PM BST, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
> On Thu Apr 16, 2026 at 4:57 AM JST, Gary Guo wrote:
>> There have been a few cases where the programmer knows that the indices are
>> in bounds but compiler cannot deduce that. This is also
>> compiler-version-dependent, so using build indexing here can be
>> problematic. On the other hand, it is also not ideal to use the fallible
>> variant, as it adds error handling path that is never hit.
>>
>> Add a new panicking index projection for this scenario. Like all panicking
>> operations, this should be used carefully only in cases where the user
>> knows the index is going to be in bounds, and panicking would indicate
>> something is catastrophically wrong.
>>
>> To signify this, require users to explicitly denote the type of index being
>> used. The existing two types of index projections also gain the keyworded
>> version, which will be the recommended way going forward.
>>
>> The keyworded syntax also paves the way of perhaps adding more flavors in
>> the future, e.g. `unsafe` index projection. However, unless the code is
>> extremely performance sensitive and bounds checking cannot be tolerated,
>> panicking variant is safer and should be preferred, so it will be left to
>> future when demand arises.
>
> Review nit (no need to respin for this): this patch would probably be
> easier to review if the renaming of `index` to `build_index` was split
> into its own patch. It would reduce the diff, while also removing the
> burden of having to keep in mind that `index` means a different thing
> depending on whether the line is removed or added. I've found it a bit
> difficult to keep track of this.

This'll need a respin anyway (to merge with the IO view series) for patch
logistics reason, so I'll make that change.

>
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Gary Guo <gary@garyguo.net>
>> ---
>> rust/kernel/dma.rs | 3 ++
>> rust/kernel/ptr/projection.rs | 98 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
>> 2 files changed, 84 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/rust/kernel/dma.rs b/rust/kernel/dma.rs
>> index 4995ee5dc689..3e4d44749aaf 100644
>> --- a/rust/kernel/dma.rs
>> +++ b/rust/kernel/dma.rs
>> @@ -1207,6 +1207,9 @@ macro_rules! dma_write {
>> (@parse [$dma:expr] [$($proj:tt)*] [.$field:tt $($rest:tt)*]) => {
>> $crate::dma_write!(@parse [$dma] [$($proj)* .$field] [$($rest)*])
>> };
>> + (@parse [$dma:expr] [$($proj:tt)*] [[$flavor:ident: $index:expr] $($rest:tt)*]) => {
>> + $crate::dma_write!(@parse [$dma] [$($proj)* [$flavor: $index]] [$($rest)*])
>> + };
>> (@parse [$dma:expr] [$($proj:tt)*] [[$index:expr]? $($rest:tt)*]) => {
>> $crate::dma_write!(@parse [$dma] [$($proj)* [$index]?] [$($rest)*])
>> };
>> diff --git a/rust/kernel/ptr/projection.rs b/rust/kernel/ptr/projection.rs
>> index 140ea8e21617..845811795393 100644
>> --- a/rust/kernel/ptr/projection.rs
>> +++ b/rust/kernel/ptr/projection.rs
>> @@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ fn from(_: OutOfBound) -> Self {
>> ///
>> /// # Safety
>> ///
>> -/// The implementation of `index` and `get` (if [`Some`] is returned) must ensure that, if provided
>> -/// input pointer `slice` and returned pointer `output`, then:
>> +/// The implementation of `index`, `build_index` and `get` (if [`Some`] is returned) must ensure
>> +/// that, if provided input pointer `slice` and returned pointer `output`, then:
>> /// - `output` has the same provenance as `slice`;
>> /// - `output.byte_offset_from(slice)` is between 0 to
>> /// `KnownSize::size(slice) - KnownSize::size(output)`.
>> ///
>> -/// This means that if the input pointer is valid, then pointer returned by `get` or `index` is
>> -/// also valid.
>> +/// This means that if the input pointer is valid, then pointer returned by `get`, `index` or
>> +/// `build_index` is also valid.
>> #[diagnostic::on_unimplemented(message = "`{Self}` cannot be used to index `{T}`")]
>> #[doc(hidden)]
>> pub unsafe trait ProjectIndex<T: ?Sized>: Sized {
>> @@ -42,9 +42,12 @@ pub unsafe trait ProjectIndex<T: ?Sized>: Sized {
>> /// Returns an index-projected pointer, if in bounds.
>> fn get(self, slice: *mut T) -> Option<*mut Self::Output>;
>>
>> + /// Returns an index-projected pointer; panic if out of bounds.
>> + fn index(self, slice: *mut T) -> *mut Self::Output;
>
> This looks like this could have a default implementation:
>
> fn index(self, slice: *mut T) -> *mut Self::Output {
> Self::get(self, slice).unwrap()
> }
>
> I'm sure there is a good reason for now having this though, so at least
> for my education: why not? :)

It could, but the implementation is going to be dead code.

Best,
Gary