rust-lang / rust-lang/rust

Wrong diagnostic when calling #[tokio::main] before a non-main function

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A-diagnostics T-compiler
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Code
#[tokio::main]
async fn test(){
    
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    test().await;
}
Current output
Compiling playground v0.0.1 (/playground)
error[E0277]: `()` is not a future
 --> src/main.rs:8:12
  |
8 |     test().await;
  |     ------ ^^^^^ `()` is not a future
  |     |
  |     this call returns `()`
  |
  = help: the trait `Future` is not implemented for `()`
  = note: () must be a future or must implement `IntoFuture` to be awaited
  = note: required for `()` to implement `IntoFuture`
help: remove the `.await`
  |
8 -     test().await;
8 +     test();
  |
help: alternatively, consider making `fn test` asynchronous
  |
2 | async async fn test(){
  |       +++++

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0277`.
error: could not compile `playground` (bin "playground") due to 1 previous error
Desired output
The error report should point to the fact that #[tokio::main] should not be added before the first function.
Rationale and extra context

No response

Other cases

Rust Version
rustc 1.88.0 (6b00bc388 2025-06-23)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: 6b00bc3880198600130e1cf62b8f8a93494488cc
commit-date: 2025-06-23
host: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
release: 1.88.0
LLVM version: 20.1.5
Anything else?

No response

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Research direction

Reproduce the example in src/main.rs with rustc 1.88.0 and compare the current diagnostic with the requested output. Trace how #[tokio::main] on the non-main function is handled, then verify that the error report identifies the misplaced attribute rather than suggesting removal of .await.

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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