Skip to content

Commit a5da003

Browse files
committed
Fix memory leak and discuss implications
Based on [a comment][comment] by danielhenrymantilla [comment]: #259 (comment)
1 parent 9f9f909 commit a5da003

File tree

1 file changed

+27
-0
lines changed

1 file changed

+27
-0
lines changed

src/send-and-sync.md

Lines changed: 27 additions & 0 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -206,6 +206,31 @@ sort of Box would be Send, which in this case is the same as saying T is Send.
206206
unsafe impl<T> Send for Carton<T> where Box<T>: Send {}
207207
```
208208

209+
Right now Carton<T> has a memory leak, as it never frees the memory it allocates.
210+
Once we fix that we have a new requirement we have to ensure we meet to be Send:
211+
we need to know `free` can be called on a pointer that was yielded by an
212+
allocation done on another thread. This is the case for `libc::free`, so we can
213+
still be Send.
214+
215+
```rust,ignore
216+
impl<T> Drop for Carton<T> {
217+
fn drop(&mut self) {
218+
unsafe {
219+
libc::free(self.0.as_ptr().cast());
220+
}
221+
}
222+
}
223+
```
224+
225+
A nice example where this does not happen is with a MutexGuard: notice how
226+
[it is not Send][mutex-guard-not-send-docs-rs]. The implementation of MutexGuard
227+
[uses libraries][mutex-guard-not-send-comment] that require you to ensure you
228+
don't try to free a lock that you acquired in a different thread. If you were
229+
able to Send a MutexGuard to another thread the destructor would run in the
230+
thread you sent it to, violating the requirement. MutexGuard can still be sync
231+
because all you can send to another thread is an `&MutexGuard` and dropping a
232+
reference does nothing.
233+
209234
TODO: better explain what can or can't be Send or Sync. Sufficient to appeal
210235
only to data races?
211236

@@ -214,3 +239,5 @@ only to data races?
214239
[box-is-special]: https://manishearth.github.io/blog/2017/01/10/rust-tidbits-box-is-special/
215240
[deref-doc]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/core/ops/trait.Deref.html
216241
[deref-mut-doc]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/core/ops/trait.DerefMut.html
242+
[mutex-guard-not-send-docs-rs]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/sync/struct.MutexGuard.html#impl-Send
243+
[mutex-guard-not-send-comment]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/23465#issuecomment-82730326

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)