Async function generates potentially panicking code
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 119k
- Forks
- 16.1k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
It appears that async fn() {...} desugars into Future state machine with a possible panic!() path. I understand that this path is taken if poll() is executed on a finished task. This is a problem when trying to write a panic-free code (that is with no panic-related code linked to the final artifact).
I was not able to write a minimal reproducing example, so I will put here the excerpts from my full code (no_std, attempting to implement custom executor):
pub async fn async_number() -> u32 {
42
}
pub async fn example_task() {
let num = async_number().await;
let _ = writeln!(dbg_print::DebugPrint, "Async number: {}", num);
}
This produces the following llvm-ir:
; test_futures::example_task::{{closure}}
; Function Attrs: inlinehint minsize nounwind optsize
define internal noundef zeroext i1 @"_ZN12test_futures12example_task28_$u7b$$u7b$closure$u7d$$u7d$17h69ea2006b28af955E"(ptr nocapture noundef nonnull align 1 %_1, ptr noalias nocapture readnone align 4 %_2) unnamed_addr #4 !dbg !1446 {
start:
%_14 = alloca [0 x i8], align 1
%args = alloca [8 x i8], align 4
%_15 = alloca [24 x i8], align 4
%num = alloca [4 x i8], align 4
// ...................
%0 = load i8, ptr %_1, align 1, !dbg !1477, !range !1478, !noundef !17
switch i8 %0, label %bb7 [
i8 0, label %bb4.thread
i8 1, label %panic
i8 3, label %bb4
], !dbg !1477
// ........
panic.i: ; preds = %bb4
; call core::panicking::panic_const::panic_const_async_fn_resumed
tail call fastcc void @_ZN4core9panicking11panic_const28panic_const_async_fn_resumed17h3b19b0997d8ed2ccE() #12, !dbg !1505
unreachable, !dbg !1505
In the final disassembly the call to panic_const_async_fn_resumed() appears as well.
I am not sure what would be the right way to solve this. Perhaps introducing Future::try_poll() ? Or adding a "Finished" variant to the Poll enum.
UPDATE:
I believe the code responsible for generating the panic block is this:
https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/a8858111044a9391ac7558f969d3bf62ef43222d/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/coroutine.rs#L1254-L1264
It is also documented:
https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/a8858111044a9391ac7558f969d3bf62ef43222d/compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/coroutine.rs#L43-L46
However it does not change the fact that async/await is not panic-free-friendly.
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
Read compiler/rustc_mir_transform/src/coroutine.rs at lines 1254-1264 and the nearby documentation at lines 43-46, then compare the generated LLVM IR with the no_std example. A complete investigation should establish whether async lowering can meet panic-free requirements and define a regression check for the resulting artifact.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100