rust-lang / rust-lang/rust-clippy

Lint for highlighting possibly invalid coercion `Box<dyn Any>` -> `&dyn Any` with implicit deref

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A-lint
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

What it does

Give a warning when doing possibly unwanted &dyn Any coercion from a Box

Advantage
  • Less headache figuring out why the Any is of wrong type
Drawbacks

No response

Example

let b: Box<dyn Any> = ...;

// What I'd write to get a reference to the inner Any
// but instead i get a reference to the box itself
let r: &dyn Any = &b; // lint: possibly unwanted coercion

// Suggest replacing with:
let r: &dyn Any = b.deref();

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

The issue names no files or tests; start from the Rust example and locate Clippy’s entry point and test pattern for coercion lints. Done means warning on the potentially unwanted Box to &dyn Any coercion, with the suggested deref alternative covered by a test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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