From: Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@proton.me>

Sometimes (see [1]) it is necessary to drop the value inside of a
`Box<T>`, but retain the allocation. For example to reuse the allocation
in the future.
Introduce a new function `drop_contents` that turns a `Box<T>` into
`Box<MaybeUninit<T>>` by dropping the value.

Signed-off-by: Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@proton.me>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/20240418-b4-rbtree-v3-5-323e134390ce@google.com/ [1]
Reviewed-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com>
---
 rust/kernel/alloc/box_ext.rs | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+)

diff --git a/rust/kernel/alloc/box_ext.rs b/rust/kernel/alloc/box_ext.rs
index 829cb1c1cf9e..6cf79f96d6c7 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/alloc/box_ext.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/alloc/box_ext.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 use super::{AllocError, Flags};
 use alloc::boxed::Box;
 use core::mem::MaybeUninit;
+use core::ptr;
+use core::result::Result;
 
 /// Extensions to [`Box`].
 pub trait BoxExt<T>: Sized {
@@ -17,6 +19,18 @@ pub trait BoxExt<T>: Sized {
     ///
     /// The allocation may fail, in which case an error is returned.
     fn new_uninit(flags: Flags) -> Result<Box<MaybeUninit<T>>, AllocError>;
+
+    /// Drops the contents, but keeps the allocation.
+    ///
+    /// # Examples
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// let value = Box::new([0; 32], flags::GFP_KERNEL)
+    /// let value = value.drop_contents();
+    /// // Now we can re-use `value`:
+    /// Box::write(value, [1; 32]);
+    /// ```
+    fn drop_contents(self) -> Box<MaybeUninit<T>>;
 }
 
 impl<T> BoxExt<T> for Box<T> {
@@ -53,4 +67,12 @@ fn new_uninit(flags: Flags) -> Result<Box<MaybeUninit<T>>, AllocError> {
         // zero-sized types, we use `NonNull::dangling`.
         Ok(unsafe { Box::from_raw(ptr) })
     }
+
+    fn drop_contents(self) -> Box<MaybeUninit<T>> {
+        let ptr = Box::into_raw(self);
+        // SAFETY: `ptr` is valid, because it came from `Box::into_raw`.
+        unsafe { ptr::drop_in_place(ptr) };
+        // SAFETY: `ptr` is valid, because it came from `Box::into_raw`.
+        unsafe { Box::from_raw(ptr.cast()) }
+    }
 }

-- 
2.46.0.184.g6999bdac58-goog

On Fri, Aug 16, 2024 at 10:48 PM Matt Gilbride <mattgilbride@google.com> wrote:
>
> From: Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@proton.me>
>
> Sometimes (see [1]) it is necessary to drop the value inside of a
> `Box<T>`, but retain the allocation. For example to reuse the allocation
> in the future.
> Introduce a new function `drop_contents` that turns a `Box<T>` into
> `Box<MaybeUninit<T>>` by dropping the value.
>
> Signed-off-by: Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@proton.me>
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/20240418-b4-rbtree-v3-5-323e134390ce@google.com/ [1]
> Reviewed-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
> Reviewed-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com>

When sending a patch from someone else, then your own Signed-off-by is
still needed at the bottom.

By the way, since you are editing `helpers.c` later in the series, if
you don't mind rebasing on top of the helpers split [1], that would be
great (I am putting that one into rust-next very soon, in case it
helps):

    https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/20240815103016.2771842-1-nmi@metaspace.dk/

Thanks!

Cheers,
Miguel