rust-lang / rust-lang/rfcs

Make an "I just want to use `?`" type for use as a `main` return type

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Description

Inspired by https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/49162#issuecomment-375346813

With ?-in-main about to stabilize, it would be nice to have an "it just works" return type for main so that one can start a bin with fn main() -> InsertSomethingEasyHere { until you care about doing something else.

Edit: Would also be nice for tests, since they never care about the error type, just whether there was one. (cc https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/48854)

Tagging lang in case this needs tweaks to ? to work well with heterogeneous error types.
Tagging libs in case this should be an alias for something like Result<(), Box<Error>> or involve failure in some way.

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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 by reading the linked Rust PR and the discussion in this issue, including the references to ? in main and tests. Determine whether the proposal has a settled scope for a convenient return type and how heterogeneous error types should be handled. Done means a concrete, accepted design with its impact on main and test entry points defined.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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