[PATCH v2 5/7] rust: devres: add DevresLt for ForLt-aware device resource access

From: Danilo Krummrich

Date: Tue Jun 02 2026 - 21:14:54 EST


Devres<T> stores resources as T and returns &'a T from access(). For
lifetime-parameterized types like Bar<'a, SIZE> that are transmuted to
'static for storage, this exposes the synthetic 'static lifetime to
callers -- any method on the stored type that returns a reference with
its lifetime parameter would yield a &'static reference, which is
unsound.

Add DevresLt<F: ForLt>, a thin wrapper around Devres<F::Of<'static>>
that applies ForLt's lifetime-shortening operations in all access
methods to shorten the stored 'static lifetime to the caller's borrow
lifetime.

DevresLt::new() is unsafe because the caller must guarantee that the
data remains valid for the device's full bound scope; the internal
transmute from F::Of<'a> to F::Of<'static> would otherwise allow
use-after-free.

Two access patterns are provided:

- CovariantForLt types get direct-reference accessors (access,
try_access) that return shortened references via
CovariantForLt::cast_ref.

- Plain ForLt types use closure-based accessors (access_with,
try_access_with) whose universally quantified lifetime prevents
callers from smuggling in concrete short-lived references.

Signed-off-by: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
rust/kernel/devres.rs | 110 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 110 insertions(+)

diff --git a/rust/kernel/devres.rs b/rust/kernel/devres.rs
index 82cbd8b969fb..23db91377f5e 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/devres.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/devres.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
Arc, //
},
types::{
+ CovariantForLt,
+ ForLt,
ForeignOwnable,
Opaque, //
},
@@ -365,6 +367,114 @@ fn drop(&mut self) {
}
}

+/// Guard returned by [`DevresLt::try_access`].
+///
+/// Dereferences to `F::Of<'a>`, shortening the lifetime of the stored data to the guard's borrow
+/// lifetime.
+pub struct DevresGuard<'a, F: CovariantForLt>(RevocableGuard<'a, F::Of<'static>>);
+
+impl<'a, F: CovariantForLt> core::ops::Deref for DevresGuard<'a, F> {
+ type Target = F::Of<'a>;
+
+ fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+ F::cast_ref(&*self.0)
+ }
+}
+
+/// Device-managed resource with [`ForLt`](trait@ForLt)-aware access.
+///
+/// `DevresLt` wraps [`Devres`] and shortens the stored `'static` lifetime to the caller's borrow
+/// lifetime in all access methods.
+///
+/// Types that implement [`trait@CovariantForLt`] get direct-reference accessors ([`Self::access`],
+/// [`Self::try_access`]). Plain [`ForLt`](trait@ForLt) types use closure-based accessors
+/// ([`Self::access_with`], [`Self::try_access_with`]).
+pub struct DevresLt<F: ForLt>(Devres<F::Of<'static>>)
+where
+ F::Of<'static>: Send;
+
+impl<F: ForLt> DevresLt<F>
+where
+ F::Of<'static>: Send,
+{
+ /// Creates a new [`DevresLt`] instance of the given `data`.
+ ///
+ /// # Safety
+ ///
+ /// The data must remain valid for the device's full bound scope. [`DevresLt`] allows
+ /// access until the device is unbound, which may outlast `'a`.
+ pub unsafe fn new<'a, E>(
+ dev: &'a Device<Bound>,
+ data: impl PinInit<F::Of<'a>, E>,
+ ) -> Result<Self>
+ where
+ Error: From<E>,
+ {
+ // SAFETY: The caller guarantees the data is valid for the device's full bound scope.
+ // Lifetimes do not affect layout, so F::Of<'a> and F::Of<'static> have identical
+ // representation; casting the slot pointer is sound.
+ let data = unsafe {
+ pin_init::pin_init_from_closure::<F::Of<'static>, E>(move |slot| {
+ data.__pinned_init(slot.cast())
+ })
+ };
+
+ Ok(Self(Devres::new(dev, data)?))
+ }
+
+ /// Return a reference of the [`Device`] this [`DevresLt`] instance has been created with.
+ pub fn device(&self) -> &Device {
+ self.0.device()
+ }
+
+ /// Obtain `&F::Of<'_>`, bypassing the [`Revocable`], through a closure.
+ ///
+ /// This method works like [`DevresLt::access`](DevresLt::access) but accepts any
+ /// [`trait@ForLt`] type, not just [`trait@CovariantForLt`].
+ pub fn access_with<R, G>(&self, dev: &Device<Bound>, f: G) -> Result<R>
+ where
+ G: for<'a> FnOnce(&'a F::Of<'a>) -> R,
+ {
+ self.0.access(dev).map(|data| {
+ // SAFETY: The closure's HRTB `for<'a>` prevents the caller from smuggling in
+ // references with a concrete short lifetime, making the round-trip from `'static`
+ // sound regardless of variance.
+ f(unsafe { F::cast_ref_unchecked(data) })
+ })
+ }
+
+ /// [`DevresLt`] accessor for [`Revocable::try_access_with`].
+ pub fn try_access_with<R, G>(&self, f: G) -> Option<R>
+ where
+ G: for<'a> FnOnce(&'a F::Of<'a>) -> R,
+ {
+ self.0.data().try_access_with(|data| {
+ // SAFETY: The closure's HRTB `for<'a>` prevents the caller from smuggling in
+ // references with a concrete short lifetime, making the round-trip from `'static`
+ // sound regardless of variance.
+ f(unsafe { F::cast_ref_unchecked(data) })
+ })
+ }
+}
+
+impl<F: CovariantForLt> DevresLt<F>
+where
+ F::Of<'static>: Send,
+{
+ /// Obtain `&'a F::Of<'a>`, bypassing the [`Revocable`].
+ ///
+ /// This method works like [`Devres::access`], but shortens the returned reference's lifetime
+ /// from `'static` to `'a` via [`CovariantForLt::cast_ref`].
+ pub fn access<'a>(&'a self, dev: &'a Device<Bound>) -> Result<&'a F::Of<'a>> {
+ self.0.access(dev).map(F::cast_ref)
+ }
+
+ /// [`DevresLt`] accessor for [`Revocable::try_access`].
+ pub fn try_access(&self) -> Option<DevresGuard<'_, F>> {
+ self.0.data().try_access().map(DevresGuard)
+ }
+}
+
/// Consume `data` and [`Drop::drop`] `data` once `dev` is unbound.
fn register_foreign<P>(dev: &Device<Bound>, data: P) -> Result
where
--
2.54.0