rust-lang / rust-lang/rust-bindgen

Wrong ABI used for small C++ classes on Linux.

Open
#778 33 comments 6 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

A-C++ bug I-ABI-bug
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
5.3k
Forks
829
Avg merge
1d 1h
Merged PRs (30d)
15

Description

Input C/C++ Header
#include <cstdint>

struct Foo {
    size_t data;
};

struct Bar {
    size_t data;
    ~Bar() { data = 0; }
};

Foo MakeFoo(); // { return Foo(); }

Bar MakeBar(); // { return Bar(); }
Bindgen Invocation
bindgen::Builder::default()
    .clang_args(&["-x","c++", "-std=c++11"])
    .header("input.h")
    .generate()
    .unwrap()
Actual Results
#[repr(C)]
#[derive(Debug, Copy)]
pub struct Foo {
    pub data: usize,
}
impl Clone for Foo {
    fn clone(&self) -> Self { *self }
}
#[repr(C)]
#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct Bar {
    pub data: usize,
}
extern "C" {
    #[link_name = "_ZN3BarD1Ev"]
    pub fn Bar_Bar_destructor(this: *mut Bar);
}
impl Bar {
    #[inline]
    pub unsafe fn destruct(&mut self) { Bar_Bar_destructor(self) }
}
extern "C" {
    #[link_name = "_Z7MakeFoov"]
    pub fn MakeFoo() -> Foo;
}
extern "C" {
    #[link_name = "_Z7MakeBarv"]
    pub fn MakeBar() -> Bar;
}

Expected Results

Not sure...

Discussion

MakeFoo and MakeBar look very similar, however in C++ they use different ABIs, at least on Linux.
Here's a quote from System V AMD64 ABI spec (page 20):

If a C++ object has either a non-trivial copy constructor or a non-trivial
destructor 11, it is passed by invisible reference (the object is replaced in the
parameter list by a pointer that has class POINTER) 12

This means that while Foo get returned by-value in the rax register, Bar must be returned by-pointer to a caller allocated memory. To Rust compiler, however, these look identical, so it expects both to be returned in rax.

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 supplied C++ header and the bindgen::Builder invocation; inspect how generated return types represent trivial Foo versus non-trivial Bar under the Linux System V AMD64 ABI. Done means generated bindings use the correct return convention for both classes and include regression coverage for the mismatch.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, rust
Domain
compilers, devtools
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.