src/librustc_error_codes/error

Trait objects like Box<Trait> can only be constructed when certain requirements are satisfied by the trait in question.

Trait objects are a form of dynamic dispatch and use a dynamically sized type for the inner type. So, for a given trait Trait, when Trait is treated as a type, as in Box<Trait>, the inner type is ‘unsized’. In such cases the boxed pointer is a ‘fat pointer’ that contains an extra pointer to a table of methods (among other things) for dynamic dispatch. This design mandates some restrictions on the types of traits that are allowed to be used in trait objects, which are collectively termed as ‘object safety’ rules.

Attempting to create a trait object for a non object-safe trait will trigger this error.

There are various rules:

The trait cannot require `Self: Sized`

When Trait is treated as a type, the type does not implement the special Sized trait, because the type does not have a known size at compile time and can only be accessed behind a pointer. Thus, if we have a trait like the following:

trait Foo where Self: Sized {

}

We cannot create an object of type Box<Foo> or &Foo since in this case Self would not be Sized.

Generally, Self: Sized is used to indicate that the trait should not be used as a trait object. If the trait comes from your own crate, consider removing this restriction.

Method references the `Self` type in its parameters or return type

This happens when a trait has a method like the following:

trait Trait {
    fn foo(&self) -> Self;
}

impl Trait for String {
    fn foo(&self) -> Self {
        "hi".to_owned()
    }
}

impl Trait for u8 {
    fn foo(&self) -> Self {
        1
    }
}

(Note that &self and &mut self are okay, it's additional Self types which cause this problem.)

In such a case, the compiler cannot predict the return type of foo() in a situation like the following:

trait Trait {
    fn foo(&self) -> Self;
}

fn call_foo(x: Box<Trait>) {
    let y = x.foo(); // What type is y?
    // ...
}

If only some methods aren't object-safe, you can add a where Self: Sized bound on them to mark them as explicitly unavailable to trait objects. The functionality will still be available to all other implementers, including Box<Trait> which is itself sized (assuming you impl Trait for Box<Trait>).

trait Trait {
    fn foo(&self) -> Self where Self: Sized;
    // more functions
}

Now, foo() can no longer be called on a trait object, but you will now be allowed to make a trait object, and that will be able to call any object-safe methods. With such a bound, one can still call foo() on types implementing that trait that aren't behind trait objects.

Method has generic type parameters

As mentioned before, trait objects contain pointers to method tables. So, if we have:

trait Trait {
    fn foo(&self);
}

impl Trait for String {
    fn foo(&self) {
        // implementation 1
    }
}

impl Trait for u8 {
    fn foo(&self) {
        // implementation 2
    }
}
// ...

At compile time each implementation of Trait will produce a table containing the various methods (and other items) related to the implementation.

This works fine, but when the method gains generic parameters, we can have a problem.

Usually, generic parameters get monomorphized. For example, if I have

fn foo<T>(x: T) {
    // ...
}

The machine code for foo::<u8>(), foo::<bool>(), foo::<String>(), or any other type substitution is different. Hence the compiler generates the implementation on-demand. If you call foo() with a bool parameter, the compiler will only generate code for foo::<bool>(). When we have additional type parameters, the number of monomorphized implementations the compiler generates does not grow drastically, since the compiler will only generate an implementation if the function is called with unparametrized substitutions (i.e., substitutions where none of the substituted types are themselves parametrized).

However, with trait objects we have to make a table containing every object that implements the trait. Now, if it has type parameters, we need to add implementations for every type that implements the trait, and there could theoretically be an infinite number of types.

For example, with:

trait Trait {
    fn foo<T>(&self, on: T);
    // more methods
}

impl Trait for String {
    fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) {
        // implementation 1
    }
}

impl Trait for u8 {
    fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) {
        // implementation 2
    }
}

// 8 more implementations

Now, if we have the following code:

# trait Trait { fn foo<T>(&self, on: T); }
# impl Trait for String { fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) {} }
# impl Trait for u8 { fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) {} }
# impl Trait for bool { fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) {} }
# // etc.
fn call_foo(thing: Box<Trait>) {
    thing.foo(true); // this could be any one of the 8 types above
    thing.foo(1);
    thing.foo("hello");
}

We don't just need to create a table of all implementations of all methods of Trait, we need to create such a table, for each different type fed to foo(). In this case this turns out to be (10 types implementing Trait)*(3 types being fed to foo()) = 30 implementations!

With real world traits these numbers can grow drastically.

To fix this, it is suggested to use a where Self: Sized bound similar to the fix for the sub-error above if you do not intend to call the method with type parameters:

trait Trait {
    fn foo<T>(&self, on: T) where Self: Sized;
    // more methods
}

If this is not an option, consider replacing the type parameter with another trait object (e.g., if T: OtherTrait, use on: Box<OtherTrait>). If the number of types you intend to feed to this method is limited, consider manually listing out the methods of different types.

Method has no receiver

Methods that do not take a self parameter can‘t be called since there won’t be a way to get a pointer to the method table for them.

trait Foo {
    fn foo() -> u8;
}

This could be called as <Foo as Foo>::foo(), which would not be able to pick an implementation.

Adding a Self: Sized bound to these methods will generally make this compile.

trait Foo {
    fn foo() -> u8 where Self: Sized;
}

The trait cannot contain associated constants

Just like static functions, associated constants aren't stored on the method table. If the trait or any subtrait contain an associated constant, they cannot be made into an object.

trait Foo {
    const X: i32;
}

impl Foo {}

A simple workaround is to use a helper method instead:

trait Foo {
    fn x(&self) -> i32;
}

The trait cannot use `Self` as a type parameter in the supertrait listing

This is similar to the second sub-error, but subtler. It happens in situations like the following:

trait Super<A: ?Sized> {}

trait Trait: Super<Self> {
}

struct Foo;

impl Super<Foo> for Foo{}

impl Trait for Foo {}

fn main() {
    let x: Box<dyn Trait>;
}

Here, the supertrait might have methods as follows:

trait Super<A: ?Sized> {
    fn get_a(&self) -> &A; // note that this is object safe!
}

If the trait Trait was deriving from something like Super<String> or Super<T> (where Foo itself is Foo<T>), this is okay, because given a type get_a() will definitely return an object of that type.

However, if it derives from Super<Self>, even though Super is object safe, the method get_a() would return an object of unknown type when called on the function. Self type parameters let us make object safe traits no longer safe, so they are forbidden when specifying supertraits.

There's no easy fix for this, generally code will need to be refactored so that you no longer need to derive from Super<Self>.

The trait cannot require Self: Sized