Prototype a new Buffer trait.

I'm experimenting with a `Buffer` trait similar to #908, however I've
run into a few problems. See the questions in examples/new_read.rs for
details.

Author: sunfishcode

Diff for: examples/new_read.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+use rustix::io::read;
+use rustix::stdio::stdin;
+
+fn main() {
+    let buf = Vec::new();
+    let _x: Vec<u8> = read(stdin(), buf).unwrap();
+
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    let _x: usize = read(stdin(), &mut buf).unwrap();
+
+    let mut buf = [0, 0, 0];
+    let _x: usize = read(stdin(), &mut buf).unwrap();
+
+    // Why doesn't this work? This is reduced from src/fs/inotify.rs line 177.
+    struct Wrapper<'a>(&'a mut [u8]);
+    impl<'a> Wrapper<'a> {
+        fn read(&mut self) {
+            let _x: usize = read(stdin(), self.0).unwrap();
+        }
+    }
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    let mut wrapper = Wrapper(&mut buf);
+    wrapper.read();
+
+    // Why does this get two error messages?
+    let mut buf = [0, 0, 0];
+    let _x = read(stdin(), buf).unwrap();
+}

Diff for: src/backend/libc/io/syscalls.rs

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ use crate::io::ReadWriteFlags;
 use crate::io::{self, FdFlags};
 use crate::ioctl::{IoctlOutput, RawOpcode};
 use core::cmp::min;
+use core::mem::MaybeUninit;
 #[cfg(all(feature = "fs", feature = "net"))]
 use libc_errno::errno;
 #[cfg(not(any(target_os = "espidf", target_os = "horizon")))]
@@ -26,8 +27,14 @@ use {
     crate::io::{IoSlice, IoSliceMut},
 };
 
-pub(crate) unsafe fn read(fd: BorrowedFd<'_>, buf: *mut u8, len: usize) -> io::Result<usize> {
-    ret_usize(c::read(borrowed_fd(fd), buf.cast(), min(len, READ_LIMIT)))
+pub(crate) fn read(fd: BorrowedFd<'_>, buf: &mut [MaybeUninit<u8>]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+    unsafe {
+        ret_usize(c::read(
+            borrowed_fd(fd),
+            buf.as_mut_ptr().cast(),
+            min(buf.len(), READ_LIMIT),
+        ))
+    }
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn write(fd: BorrowedFd<'_>, buf: &[u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {

Diff for: src/backend/linux_raw/io/syscalls.rs

@@ -26,11 +26,19 @@ use crate::ioctl::{IoctlOutput, RawOpcode};
 #[cfg(all(feature = "fs", feature = "net"))]
 use crate::net::{RecvFlags, SendFlags};
 use core::cmp;
+use core::mem::MaybeUninit;
 use linux_raw_sys::general::{F_DUPFD_CLOEXEC, F_GETFD, F_SETFD};
 
 #[inline]
-pub(crate) unsafe fn read(fd: BorrowedFd<'_>, buf: *mut u8, len: usize) -> io::Result<usize> {
-    ret_usize(syscall!(__NR_read, fd, buf, pass_usize(len)))
+pub(crate) fn read(fd: BorrowedFd<'_>, buf: &mut [MaybeUninit<u8>]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+    unsafe {
+        ret_usize(syscall!(
+            __NR_read,
+            fd,
+            buf.as_mut_ptr(),
+            pass_usize(buf.len())
+        ))
+    }
 }
 
 #[inline]

Diff for: src/buffer.rs

@@ -2,9 +2,128 @@
 
 #![allow(unsafe_code)]
 
+#[cfg(feature = "alloc")]
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use core::mem::MaybeUninit;
 use core::slice;
 
+/// A memory buffer that may be uninitialized.
+pub trait Buffer<T> {
+    /// The result of the process operation.
+    type Result;
+
+    /// Convert this buffer into a maybe-unitiailized view.
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>];
+
+    /// Convert a finished buffer pointer into its result.
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    ///
+    /// At least `len` bytes of the buffer must now be initialized.
+    unsafe fn finish(self, len: usize) -> Self::Result;
+}
+
+/// Implements [`Buffer`] around the a slice of bytes.
+///
+/// `Result` is a `usize` indicating how many bytes were written.
+impl<T> Buffer<T> for &mut [T] {
+    type Result = usize;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+        // SAFETY: This just casts away the knowledge that the elements are
+        // initialized.
+        unsafe { core::mem::transmute::<&mut [T], &mut [MaybeUninit<T>]>(self) }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn finish(self, len: usize) -> Self::Result {
+        len
+    }
+}
+
+/// Implements [`Buffer`] around the a slice of bytes.
+///
+/// `Result` is a `usize` indicating how many bytes were written.
+impl<T, const N: usize> Buffer<T> for &mut [T; N] {
+    type Result = usize;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+        // SAFETY: This just casts away the knowledge that the elements are
+        // initialized.
+        unsafe { core::mem::transmute::<&mut [T], &mut [MaybeUninit<T>]>(*self) }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn finish(self, len: usize) -> Self::Result {
+        len
+    }
+}
+
+/// Implements [`Buffer`] around the a slice of bytes.
+///
+/// `Result` is a `usize` indicating how many bytes were written.
+impl<T> Buffer<T> for &mut Vec<T> {
+    type Result = usize;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+        // SAFETY: This just casts away the knowledge that the elements are
+        // initialized.
+        unsafe { core::mem::transmute::<&mut [T], &mut [MaybeUninit<T>]>(self) }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn finish(self, len: usize) -> Self::Result {
+        len
+    }
+}
+
+/// Implements [`Buffer`] around the a slice of uninitialized bytes.
+///
+/// `Result` is a pair of slices giving the initialized and uninitialized
+/// subslices after the new data is written.
+impl<'a, T> Buffer<T> for &'a mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+    type Result = (&'a mut [T], &'a mut [MaybeUninit<T>]);
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+        self
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn finish(self, len: usize) -> Self::Result {
+        let (init, uninit) = self.split_at_mut(len);
+
+        // SAFETY: The user asserts that the slice is now initialized.
+        let init = slice::from_raw_parts_mut(init.as_mut_ptr().cast::<T>(), init.len());
+
+        (init, uninit)
+    }
+}
+
+/// Implements [`Buffer`] around the `Vec` type.
+///
+/// This implementation fills the buffer, overwriting any previous data, with
+/// the new data data and sets the length.
+#[cfg(feature = "alloc")]
+impl<T> Buffer<T> for Vec<T> {
+    type Result = Vec<T>;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn as_maybe_uninitialized(&mut self) -> &mut [MaybeUninit<T>] {
+        self.clear();
+        self.spare_capacity_mut()
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn finish(mut self, len: usize) -> Self::Result {
+        self.set_len(len);
+        self
+    }
+}
+
 /// Split an uninitialized byte slice into initialized and uninitialized parts.
 ///
 /// # Safety

Diff for: src/fs/inotify.rs

@@ -40,14 +40,16 @@
 //! # }
 
 #![allow(unused_qualifications)]
+#![allow(dead_code)] // FIXME
+#![allow(unused_imports)] // FIXME
 
 use super::inotify;
 pub use crate::backend::fs::inotify::{CreateFlags, ReadFlags, WatchFlags};
 use crate::backend::fs::syscalls;
 use crate::fd::{AsFd, OwnedFd};
 use crate::ffi::CStr;
 use crate::io;
-use crate::io::{read_uninit, Errno};
+use crate::io::{read, Errno};
 use core::mem::{align_of, size_of, MaybeUninit};
 use linux_raw_sys::general::inotify_event;
 
@@ -174,14 +176,17 @@ impl<'buf, Fd: AsFd> Reader<'buf, Fd> {
     #[allow(clippy::should_implement_trait)]
     pub fn next(&mut self) -> io::Result<InotifyEvent<'_>> {
         if self.is_buffer_empty() {
-            match read_uninit(self.fd.as_fd(), self.buf).map(|(init, _)| init.len()) {
+            todo!("FIXME: see \"Why doesn't this work?\" in examples/new_read.rs");
+            /*
+            match read(self.fd.as_fd(), self.buf).map(|(init, _)| init.len()) {
                 Ok(0) => return Err(Errno::INVAL),
                 Ok(bytes_read) => {
                     self.initialized = bytes_read;
                     self.offset = 0;
                 }
                 Err(e) => return Err(e),
             }
+            */
         }
 
         let ptr = self.buf[self.offset..].as_ptr();

Diff for: src/io/read_write.rs

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 #![allow(unsafe_code)]
 
-use crate::buffer::split_init;
+use crate::buffer::{split_init, Buffer};
 use crate::{backend, io};
 use backend::fd::AsFd;
 use core::mem::MaybeUninit;
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ pub use backend::io::types::ReadWriteFlags;
 
 /// `read(fd, buf)`—Reads from a stream.
 ///
-/// This takes a `&mut [u8]` which Rust requires to contain initialized memory.
-/// To use an uninitialized buffer, use [`read_uninit`].
-///
 /// # References
 ///  - [POSIX]
 ///  - [Linux]
@@ -40,27 +37,10 @@ pub use backend::io::types::ReadWriteFlags;
 /// [illumos]: https://illumos.org/man/2/read
 /// [glibc]: https://sourceware.org/glibc/manual/latest/html_node/I_002fO-Primitives.html#index-reading-from-a-file-descriptor
 #[inline]
-pub fn read<Fd: AsFd>(fd: Fd, buf: &mut [u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {
-    unsafe { backend::io::syscalls::read(fd.as_fd(), buf.as_mut_ptr(), buf.len()) }
-}
-
-/// `read(fd, buf)`—Reads from a stream.
-///
-/// This is equivalent to [`read`], except that it can read into uninitialized
-/// memory. It returns the slice that was initialized by this function and the
-/// slice that remains uninitialized.
-#[inline]
-pub fn read_uninit<Fd: AsFd>(
-    fd: Fd,
-    buf: &mut [MaybeUninit<u8>],
-) -> io::Result<(&mut [u8], &mut [MaybeUninit<u8>])> {
-    // Get number of initialized bytes.
-    let length = unsafe {
-        backend::io::syscalls::read(fd.as_fd(), buf.as_mut_ptr().cast::<u8>(), buf.len())
-    };
-
-    // Split into the initialized and uninitialized portions.
-    Ok(unsafe { split_init(buf, length?) })
+pub fn read<Fd: AsFd, Buf: Buffer<u8>>(fd: Fd, mut buf: Buf) -> io::Result<Buf::Result> {
+    let len = backend::io::syscalls::read(fd.as_fd(), buf.as_maybe_uninitialized())?;
+    // SAFETY: `read` works.
+    unsafe { Ok(buf.finish(len)) }
 }
 
 /// `write(fd, buf)`—Writes to a stream.