Compiler doesn’t allow creating u8 slices when using const generics
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Description
This compiles:
#[repr(C, packed)]
struct PascalString10 {
len: u8,
buf: [u8; 10],
}
fn foo(s: &PascalString10) -> &str {
str::from_utf8(&s.buf[0..s.len as usize]).unwrap()
}
But if I use const generics it doesn’t anymore:
#[repr(C, packed)]
struct PascalString<const CAPACITY: usize> {
len: u8,
buf: [u8; CAPACITY],
}
fn bar<const CAPACITY: usize>(s: &PascalString<CAPACITY>) -> &str {
str::from_utf8(&s.buf[0..s.len as usize]).unwrap()
}
I get the error:
error[E0793]: reference to packed field is unaligned
--> src/main.rs:18:21
|
18 | str::from_utf8(&s.buf[0..s.len as usize]).unwrap()
| ^^^^^
|
= note: packed structs are only aligned by one byte, and many modern architectures penalize unaligned field accesses
= note: creating a misaligned reference is undefined behavior (even if that reference is never dereferenced)
= help: copy the field contents to a local variable, or replace the reference with a raw pointer and use `read_unaligned`/`write_unaligned` (loads and stores via `*p` must be properly aligned even when using raw pointers)
For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0793`.
Since u8 slices have an alignment of 1 (for all values of CAPACITY) and the first code block works, I think the second one should too.
Meta
rustc --version --verbose:
rustc 1.89.0 (29483883e 2025-08-04)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: 29483883eed69d5fb4db01964cdf2af4d86e9cb2
commit-date: 2025-08-04
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
release: 1.89.0
LLVM version: 20.1.7
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the reproducer in src/main.rs using rustc 1.89.0, comparing the fixed-capacity and const-generic PascalString examples. Investigate why the const-generic slice is treated as an unaligned packed-field reference despite u8 alignment. Done means the const-generic example receives the same valid treatment as the non-generic version, with coverage for the regression.
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
- 43/100