Re: [PATCH] rust/alloc: mention layout in Box::from_raw()

[Danilo Krummrich]

On Wed Apr 1, 2026 at 12:58 PM CEST, David Rheinsberg wrote:
> Extend the safety requirements of `Box::from_raw()` to mention that the
> layout of the allocation must match exactly. Even though the underlying
> allocators maintain allocation layout information to some degree, the
> Rust abstraction strictly requires the layout to match exactly.

One additional general note on this. I've always been more against this
additional requirement of Allocator::free() compared to our existing kernel
allocators, but eventually agreed as there may also be advantages.

This is the first time it gets a little bit in our way, since technically
Vec::into_boxed_slice() only needs to call realloc() to fulfill the safety
requirement that comes from Allocator::free().

I will keep monitoring this, and if it turns out to have more disadvantages we
might want to change it.

> Suggested-by: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@xxxxxxxxxx>

This should be:

Reported-by: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@xxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/DHCNOY4GFV7B.3VGGZNT3382L0@xxxxxxxxxx/

Please also add a corresponding Fixes: tag.

> Signed-off-by: David Rheinsberg <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  rust/kernel/alloc/kbox.rs | 9 +++++----
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/rust/kernel/alloc/kbox.rs b/rust/kernel/alloc/kbox.rs
> index 622b3529edfc..1b30c51f87ab 100644
> --- a/rust/kernel/alloc/kbox.rs
> +++ b/rust/kernel/alloc/kbox.rs
> @@ -170,15 +170,16 @@ impl<T, A> Box<T, A>
>      ///
>      /// # Safety
>      ///
> -    /// For non-ZSTs, `raw` must point at an allocation allocated with `A` that is sufficiently
> -    /// aligned for and holds a valid `T`. The caller passes ownership of the allocation to the
> -    /// `Box`.
> +    /// For non-ZSTs, `raw` must point at an allocation allocated with `A` with a layout
> +    /// of `Layout::for_value::<T>()`. The caller passes ownership of the allocation
> +    /// to the `Box`.
>      ///
>      /// For ZSTs, `raw` must be a dangling, well aligned pointer.
>      #[inline]
>      pub const unsafe fn from_raw(raw: *mut T) -> Self {
>          // INVARIANT: Validity of `raw` is guaranteed by the safety preconditions of this function.
> -        // SAFETY: By the safety preconditions of this function, `raw` is not a NULL pointer.
> +        // SAFETY: By the safety preconditions of this function, `raw` is not a NULL pointer and
> +        // was allocated via `A` for `Layout::for_value::<T>()`.
>          Self(unsafe { NonNull::new_unchecked(raw) }, PhantomData)
>      }

This looks good, but I think we also need this as a type invariant, can you
please add one?