Very large error file creation on exponentially growing type
Open
Nobody has claimed this yet.
C-bug
D-diagnostic-infra
I-heavy
T-compiler
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 119k
- Forks
- 16.1k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
I tried this code:
struct B<T: 'static>(&'static B<(T, T)>, T);
static BOO: B<u32> = todo!();
I expected to see this happen: compilation error
Instead, this happened: disk space filled up with a large error file (it terminates at some point, just probably not this year).
Meta
rustc --version --verbose:
rustc 1.98.0-nightly (14210df0e 2026-05-31)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: 14210df0e27ccd7d9e6a05b8085cbd438e4bbc65
commit-date: 2026-05-31
host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
release: 1.98.0-nightly
LLVM version: 22.1.6
Backtrace
<backtrace>
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 by compiling the provided recursive type example with the reported nightly rustc version and observe the generated error output. Trace the compiler behavior responsible for expanding the type and consider the issue done when this input produces a bounded diagnostic instead of filling disk space.
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
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100