Recursive theorems with `cases` vs `match`

Prerequisites

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• Check that your issue is not already filed:
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• Reduce the issue to a minimal, self-contained, reproducible test case.
  Avoid dependencies to Mathlib or Batteries.
• Test your test case against the latest nightly release, for example on
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Description

Consider:

inductive C : Nat → Type where
| C0  : C 0
| C1  : C n → C (1 + n)
| C2  : C n → C n → C n

open C

def id_C (c : C n) : C n :=
  match c with
  | C0       => C0
  | C1 c     => C1 (id_C c)
  | C2 c₁ c₂ => C2 (id_C c₁) (id_C c₂)

We can prove the following theorem with match or induction:

theorem id_c_is_identity (c : C n) : id_C c = c := by
  match c with
  | C0 => simp [id_C]
  | C1 inner => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity inner]
  | C2 lhs rhs => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity lhs, id_c_is_identity rhs]

this will use the structural termination metric on c as expected.
However the following:

theorem id_c_is_identity (c : C n) : id_C c = c := by
  cases c with
  | C0 => simp [id_C]
  | C1 inner => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity inner]
  | C2 lhs rhs => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity lhs, id_c_is_identity rhs]

Fails to prove termination, if we force a use of the structural metric:

theorem id_c_is_identity (c : C n) : id_C c = c := by
  cases c with
  | C0 => simp [id_C]
  | C1 inner => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity inner]
  | C2 lhs rhs => simp [id_C, id_c_is_identity lhs, id_c_is_identity rhs]
termination_by structural c

We get

failed to infer structural recursion:
Cannot use parameter c:
  failed to eliminate recursive application
    id_c_is_identity lhs

Steps to Reproduce

Expected behavior: Given that it works with match it should either also work with cases or there should be a better error message explaining why that is not the case (haha).

Actual behavior: match works, cases doesn't.

Versions

"4.12.0-nightly-2024-10-13"

Impact

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Start with the self-contained inductive type and theorem examples in the issue, comparing the match and cases versions in Lean nightly via live.lean-lang.org. Investigate the structural termination check around termination_by structural c; done means the cases form works like match or reports a clearer explanation of the limitation.