Re: [PATCH v8 03/12] rust: num: add cv! macro to create values from constant expressions

[Eliot Courtney]

On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 11:55 PM JST, Alice Ryhl wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2026 at 4:37 PM Gary Guo <gary@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 3:29 PM BST, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
>> > On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 10:48 PM JST, Eliot Courtney wrote:
>> >> On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 8:12 PM JST, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
>> >>> On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 7:42 PM JST, Alexandre Courbot wrote:
>> >>>> On Thu Aug 27, 2026 at 6:32 PM JST, Alice Ryhl wrote:
>> >>>>> On Thu, Aug 27, 2026 at 04:28:31PM +0900, Eliot Courtney wrote:
>> >>>>>> Currently, using NonZero/Bounded constants is quite verbose. It's
>> >>>>>> unfortunate because it disincentivizes using it in interface boundaries.
>> >>>>>> Introduce a macro to make it nicer to use. The macro `cv!` (for constant
>> >>>>>> value) takes a const integer expression and widens it to i128 (at build
>> >>>>>> time only) before passing it as a const generic value to a new trait
>> >>>>>> function `FromConst::from_const`. The trait is implemented by NonZero,
>> >>>>>> Bounded, and Alignment and lets values of each be constructed from
>> >>>>>> constants without a verbose turbofish syntax. For example,
>> >>>>>> `const { NonZero::new(1).unwrap() }` can be written as `cv!(1)`.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Suggested-by: Gary Guo <gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>>>> Signed-off-by: Eliot Courtney <ecourtney@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> This doesn't work in const context, so I don't think this is a great
>> >>>>> strategy.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> I would want to use it for cases like this:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> drivers/android/binder/netlink.rs
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_CMD_REPORT: u8 = kernel::uapi::BINDER_CMD_REPORT as u8;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_ERROR: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_ERROR as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_CONTEXT: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_CONTEXT as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_FROM_PID: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_FROM_PID as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_FROM_TID: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_FROM_TID as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_TO_PID: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_TO_PID as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_TO_TID: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_TO_TID as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_IS_REPLY: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_IS_REPLY as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_FLAGS: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_FLAGS as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_CODE: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_CODE as c_int;
>> >>>>>         const BINDER_A_REPORT_DATA_SIZE: c_int = kernel::uapi::BINDER_A_REPORT_DATA_SIZE as c_int;
>> >>>>
>> >>>> `const_as!` [1] should do the trick for this, provided you don't need to
>> >>>> create a const `NonZero`.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260825-const_as-v1-1-1ce712225fe2@xxxxxxxxxx/
>> >>>
>> >>> ... but I agree it would be nice to be able to use this in const
>> >>> context. And there is an overlap with `const_as!` that becomes more
>> >>> obvious the more I look at it.
>> >>>
>> >>> In for a penny, in for a pound of macro code as they say. Since we
>> >>> agreed on using macros, how about unifying both under the same `cv!`
>> >>> macro, with as many branches as we have types we want to initialize from
>> >>> a constant value? For instance:
>> >>>
>> >>>     // Does what `const_as!` currently does under the hood.
>> >>>     const BINDER_CMD_REPORT: u8 = cv!(u8::from(kernel::uapi::BINDER_CMD_REPORT));
>> >>>     // Calls `NonZero::new().unwrap()` under the hood.
>> >>>     const SOME_NONZERO: NonZero<u8> = cv!(NonZero::new(kernel::uapi::NONZERO_VALUE));
>> >>>     // Calls `Bounded::new::<{ ...}>()` under the hood.
>> >>>     const SOME_BOUNDED: Bounded<u32, 2> = cv!(Bounded::new(kernel::uapi::SMALL_VALUE));
>> >>>
>> >>> I.e. we would have one extra matching arm in `cv!` per type it handles
>> >>> instead of implementing a trait. The syntax of the macro would look more
>> >>> natural (bye bye `const_as`'s awkward `=>`), albeit it would have the
>> >>> limitations of such a semantic dispatch.
>> >>>
>> >>> Even the name `const_as!` wasn't really accurate to begin with: what it
>> >>> really emulates is a const `try_from`, and we even discussed
>> >>> implementing it in these terms in the future.
>> >>>
>> >>> I'm sure the idea needs more polishing but I think there's something to
>> >>> explore here.
>> >>
>> >> Yeah I agree that const_as! is similar and if we had const traits we
>> >> could fully merge them and have it always work in a const context for
>> >> both duties (which are really a const tryfrom as you said).
>> >>
>> >> I am not sure about the suggested syntax (e.g.
>> >> cv!(Bounded::new(kernel::uapi::SMALL_VALUE))), since it seems very
>> >> verbose.
>> >
>> > A bit, but what I like is that it looks very close to what you would
>> > naturally write if you had const traits (minus the unwraps), so you
>> > don't have to learn a new syntax. As long as it's not *more* verbose
>> > than natural Rust, I think it's fine.
>> >
>> > It also has the benefit of relying less on type inference, i.e. `cv!(5)`
>> > requires the caller to specify the type even with a `let` statement,
>> > whereas you could do `let v = cv!(NonZero::new(5));` and it would work
>> > as expected.
>>
>> Even with const try_from we'd still want `cv!()` to avoid having to write
>>
>>     const { Type::try_from(...).unwrap() }
>>
>> I think having `=>` syntax is great because it is a good place to *optionally*
>> require type annotation.
>>
>> For enum repr for example, I think it'd be great that
>>
>>     const BINDER_CMD_REPORT: u8 = cv!(kernel::uapi::BINDER_CMD_REPORT);
>>
>> would work directly. It might need some tricks, which I have hard time coming up
>> as I'm not feeling very well today, but I'll give it a shot over the weekend...
>
> One could potentially define a trait with a MIN and MAX value
> constant, and then implement cv! like this:
>
> 1. Verify that the value lies between MIN and MAX.
> 2. Cast the value to uNN of the same size as the target type.
> 3. Transmute the uNN to the target type.
>
> Since the trait has no methods, this works in const eval.
>
> Alice

Using an associated const by itself appears to work - I tried this which
is very similar to Alice's suggested approach above:

```
macro_rules! const_assert {
    ($condition:expr $(,$arg:literal)?) => {
        const { ::core::assert!($condition $(,$arg)?) };
    };
}

trait FromConst<const V: i128>: Sized {
    const VALUE: Self;
}

macro_rules! cv {
    (@widen $v:expr) => {{
        #[allow(unused_comparisons, unused_assignments)]
        {
            let v = $v;
            let r = v as i128;
            let mut back = v;
            back = r as _;

            ::core::assert!(
                back == v && (v < 0) == (r < 0),
                "value cannot be losslessly widened to `i128`"
            );

            r
        }
    }};
    ($v:expr => $t:ty) => {
        <$t as FromConst<{ cv!(@widen $v) }>>::VALUE
    };
    ($v:expr) => {
        <_ as FromConst<{ cv!(@widen $v) }>>::VALUE
    };
}

macro_rules! impl_from_const_int {
    ($($t:ty)*) => {$(
        impl<const V: i128> FromConst<V> for $t {
            const VALUE: Self = {
                const_assert!(
                    V >= <$t>::MIN as i128 && V <= <$t>::MAX as i128,
                    "Constant cannot be represented by the target type."
                );
                V as $t
            };
        }

        impl<const V: i128> FromConst<V> for NonZero<$t> {
            const VALUE: Self = {
                const_assert!(
                    V >= <$t>::MIN as i128 && V <= <$t>::MAX as i128,
                    "Constant cannot be represented by the underlying type."
                );
                NonZero::new(V as $t).unwrap()
            };
        }
    )*};
}
impl_from_const_int!(u8 u16 u32 u64 usize i8 i16 i32 i64 isize);

impl<const V: i128> FromConst<V> for Alignment {
    const VALUE: Self = {
        const_assert!(V > 0 && V <= usize::MAX as i128);
        // The unwrap fails the build if `V` is not a power of two.
        Alignment::new_checked(V as usize).unwrap()
    };
}

const A: u8 = cv!(200u32);
const B: NonZero<u8> = cv!(5);
const C: Alignment = cv!(4096);
const D: u8 = cv!(200u32 => u8);
```