RustCrypto / RustCrypto/formats
der: make `Length` a newtype of `usize`
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- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 338
- Forks
- 188
- Avg merge
- 4d 6h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 15
Description
Length is currently a newtype of u32. This is because the Decode and Encode impls are specialized to 32-bit integers:
- decode: https://github.com/RustCrypto/formats/blob/bd84063/der/src/length.rs#L272-L273
- encode: https://github.com/RustCrypto/formats/blob/bd84063/der/src/length.rs#L309-L315
If the implementation could support any usize, we could change the internal type to usize which would allow infallible conversions to/from usize.
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- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start in der/src/length.rs at the Decode implementation around lines 272–273 and the Encode implementation around lines 309–315. Read how these implementations are specialized to 32-bit integers, then verify that the intended done state is a Length newtype backed by usize with support for usize conversions without fallibility.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- cryptography
- Issue type
- Refactor
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100