Cannot recurse through type with a private constructor
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Description
Prerequisites
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Description
Defining type with nested recursion where the type recurred through has a private constructor causes a "constant already been declared" kernel error. It appears that the private constructor the elaborator generates for the nested inductive is clashing with the existing private constructor for the type.
Steps to Reproduce
structure Box (α : Type u) where
private mk ::
private val : α -- this `private` is not needed to produce the error
/--
error: (kernel) constant has already been declared '_private.«external:file:///lean-nightly/lean-nightly.lean».0.Box.mk'
-/
#guard_msgs in
structure Rec where
box? : Option (Box Rec)
Expected behavior:
Lean to succeed in creating type Rec.
Actual behavior:
It is impossible to define type Rec due to this error.
Versions
Lean 4.25.0-nightly-2025-10-13
(Bug has existed since at least v4.22.0.)
Impact
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Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by running the minimal nested-recursion example from the issue and inspect the elaborator and kernel handling of generated private constructors. Trace why the nested Rec declaration produces a private Box.mk collision; done means the example succeeds without a constant-already-declared error.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100