rust-lang / rust-lang/rust

Too conservative lifetime check in match arm with if condition.

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A-borrow-checker A-lifetimes A-patterns C-enhancement T-types
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

#![allow(unused)]

enum Enum {
    A,
}

fn main() {
    let mut a = Some(Enum::A);
    match &mut a {
        _ if foo(&a) => (),
        _ => (),
    }  // example1: worked
    match &mut a {
        Some(_) if foo(&a) => (),
        _ => (),
    }  // example2: not worked
}
fn foo<T>(a: &T) -> bool {
    true
}

The above two examples are similar, but compilation can succeed only for the first, while the second one has the following error:

error[E0502]: cannot borrow `a` as immutable because it is also borrowed as mutable
  --> src/main.rs:14:24
   |
13 |     match &mut a {
   |           ------ mutable borrow occurs here
14 |         Some(_) if foo(&a) => (),
   |                        ^^- mutable borrow later used here
   |                        |
   |                        immutable borrow occurs here

But the exclusive reference in Some(_) is indeed never used and this specific case at least should be acceptable. I think this is something related to non-lexical lifetime, yet it's a quite simple case to implement or correct in the lifetime checker.

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First steps

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  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 compiling the reduced example in src/main.rs and compare the two match arms, focusing on the borrow checker behavior around the guard. Trace why the mutable borrow remains live for the Some(_) pattern. Done when the second example is accepted without E0502 and a regression test covers the behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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