rust-lang / rust-lang/rust

self-referencial struct: mutable borrow not dropped?

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#138,496 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Rust
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Description

I tried this code:

struct Foo<'a> {
  name: Option<&'a str>,
  foo: String
}

impl<'a> Foo<'a> {
  fn op1(&'a mut self) {
    // self.name = Some(&self.foo);
  }

  fn op2(&self) {
  }
}


fn x() {
  let mut foo = Foo { name: None, foo: "foo".to_string() };

  foo.op1();
  foo.op2(); // Cannot borrow as immutable because borrowed as mutable
}

I expected to see this happen: should compile.

Instead, this happened: compiler seems to think foo.op2() hangs onto the mutable borrow in op1

Meta

rustc --version --verbose:

$ rustc --version --verbose
rustc 1.87.0-nightly (cbfdf0b01 2025-03-13)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: cbfdf0b014cb04982a9cbeec1578001001167f6e
commit-date: 2025-03-13
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
release: 1.87.0-nightly
LLVM version: 20.1.0


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Research direction

Reproduce the inline example with the reported rustc 1.87.0-nightly version and compare its behavior with current compiler versions. Start by investigating the borrow-checker handling of the mutable self-reference and determine whether the reported rejection is intended. Done means reaching a confirmed compiler diagnosis and, if it is a bug, adding the appropriate regression coverage.

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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