Rust: False positive for unused variable names
- Dominant language
- CodeQL
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Description
**Description of the false positive**
CodeQL seems to produce false positives for Rust variables in format strings.
**Code samples or links to source code**
On 2026-08-13, the folllowing Rust snippet got [flagged](https://github.com/alltheplaces/osm-diffs/security/code-scanning/30) by CodeQL on https://github.com/alltheplaces/osm-diffs/pull/660. CodeQL posted a notice, claiming `Variable 'name' is not used`. However, the variable _does_ get used in this snippet, via a `format!` macro. We also check for unused variables with clippy, which does not flag an unused variable for this code. So, this looks like a false positive from CodeQL.
```rust
let producers: Vec<_> = sources
.into_iter()
.map(|(name, reader)| {
let tx = tx.clone();
s.spawn(move || -> Result<()> {
for record in reader.iter()? {
let bytes = record?;
let fti = FeatureToIndex::decode(bytes.as_slice()).with_context(|| {
format!("failed to decode a FeatureToIndex record from {name}")
})?;
tx.send(fti)?;
progress_bar.inc(1);
}
Ok(())
})
})
.collect();
```
**URL to the alert on GitHub code scanning (optional)**
https://github.com/alltheplaces/osm-diffs/security/code-scanning/30
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start with the linked code-scanning alert and the Rust snippet, then trace the CodeQL Rust unused-variable query's handling of format! interpolation. Done means the query no longer reports `name` as unused while still detecting genuinely unused variables.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100