leanprover / leanprover/lean4

isDefEq: constant approximation should permute binder telescope

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enhancement
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Description

Prerequisites
Description

Given two metavariables whose types are telescope permutations of another

?m.1 : ∀ (x : Nat) (n : Fin x) (f : Fin x → Bool) (y : Nat), Bool
?m.2 : ∀ (x : Nat) (y : Nat) (n : Fin x) (f : Fin x → Bool), Bool

The following unification problem succeeds by constant approximation:

n : Nat, x : Fin n, f : Fin n → Bool 
⊢ ?m.1 n x f n =?= f x

whereas the following fails:

n : Nat, x : Fin n, f : Fin n → Bool 
⊢ ?m.2 n n x f =?= f x
Context

I stumbled over this while working on the new do elaborator. I wanted to use isDefEq to assign metavariables standing in for jump sites of join points.

Steps to Reproduce

Run the following metaprogram

import Lean

open Lean Meta

def withConstApprox (x : MetaM α) : MetaM α :=
  withConfig (fun config => { config with constApprox := true }) x

run_meta do
  -- ?m.1 : ∀ (x : Nat) (n : Fin x) (f : Fin x → Bool) (y : Nat), Bool
  let mvar1 ← mkFreshExprMVar <|
    mkForall `x .default Nat.mkType <|
    mkForall `n .default (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) (.bvar 0)) <|
    mkForall `f .default (mkForall `n .default (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) (.bvar 1)) (mkConst ``Bool)) <|
    mkForall `y .default Nat.mkType <|
    mkConst ``Bool
  -- ?m.2 : ∀ (x : Nat) (y : Nat) (n : Fin x) (f : Fin x → Bool), Bool
  let mvar2 ← mkFreshExprMVar <|
    mkForall `x .default Nat.mkType <|
    mkForall `y .default Nat.mkType <|
    mkForall `n .default (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) (.bvar 1)) <|
    mkForall `f .default (mkForall `n .default (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) (.bvar 2)) (mkConst ``Bool)) <|
    mkConst ``Bool
  -- x : Nat, n : Fin x, f : Fin x → Bool
  withLocalDeclD `x Nat.mkType fun x =>
  withLocalDeclD `n (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) (.bvar 1)) fun n =>
  withLocalDeclD `f (mkForall `n .default (mkApp (mkConst ``Fin) x) (mkConst ``Bool)) fun f => do
    let lhs := mkApp4 mvar1 x n f x
    let rhs := mkApp f n
    unless ← withConstApprox <| isDefEq lhs rhs do
      throwError "{lhs} =?= {rhs} failed"
    logInfo m!"{lhs} =?= {rhs} succeeded"
    let lhs := mkApp4 mvar2 x x n f
    let rhs := mkApp f n
    unless ← withConstApprox <| isDefEq lhs rhs do
      throwError "{lhs} =?= {rhs} failed"

Expected behavior: Two log messages about successful unification

Actual behavior: failure on the second isDefEq

Versions

Lean 4.28.0-nightly-2025-12-25
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Impact

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Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the minimal metaprogram and the isDefEq constant-approximation path, using withConstApprox to reproduce both telescope-permutation cases. Compare the successful and failing unification calls, then verify that both log messages are produced without the second failure.

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
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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