# Panicking in Rust

## Step 1: Invocation of the `panic!` macro.

There are actually two panic macros - one defined in `core`, and one defined in `std`.
This is due to the fact that code in `core` can panic.
`core` is built before `std`,
but we want panics to use the same machinery at runtime, whether they originate in `core` or `std`.

### core definition of panic!

The `core` `panic!` macro eventually makes the following call (in [`library/core/src/panicking.rs`]):

```rust
// NOTE This function never crosses the FFI boundary; it's a Rust-to-Rust call
extern "Rust" {
    #[lang = "panic_impl"]
    fn panic_impl(pi: &PanicInfo<'_>) -> !;
}

let pi = PanicInfo::new(
    &fmt,
    Location::caller(),
    /* can_unwind */ true,
    /* force_no_backtrace */ false,
);
unsafe { panic_impl(&pi) }
```

Actually resolving this goes through several layers of indirection:

1. In [`compiler/rustc_hir/src/weak_lang_items.rs`], `panic_impl` is
   declared as 'weak lang item', with the symbol `rust_begin_unwind`.
   This is used in `rustc_hir_analysis/src/collect.rs` to set the actual symbol name to
   `rust_begin_unwind`.

   Note that `panic_impl` is declared in an `extern "Rust"` block,
   which means that core will attempt to call a foreign symbol called `rust_begin_unwind`
   (to be resolved at link time)

2. In [`library/std/src/panicking.rs`], we have this definition:

```rust
/// Entry point of panics from the core crate (`panic_impl` lang item).
#[cfg(not(any(test, doctest)))]
#[panic_handler]
pub fn panic_handler(info: &core::panic::PanicInfo<'_>) -> ! {
    ...
}
```

The special `panic_handler` attribute is resolved via [`compiler/rustc_passes/src/lang_items.rs`].
The [`extract_ast`] function converts the `panic_handler` attribute to a `panic_impl` lang item.

Now, we have a matching `panic_handler` lang item in the `std`.
This function goes
through the same process as the `extern { fn panic_impl }` definition in `core`, ending
up with a symbol name of `rust_begin_unwind`.
At link time, the symbol reference in `core`
will be resolved to the definition of `std` (the function called `panic_handler` in the
Rust source).

Thus, control flow will pass from core to std at runtime.
This allows panics from `core`
to go through the same infrastructure that other panics use (panic hooks, unwinding, etc)

### std implementation of panic!

This is where the actual panic-related logic begins.
In [`library/std/src/panicking.rs`],
control passes to `panic_with_hook`.
This method is responsible for invoking the global panic hook, and checking for double panics.
Finally,
we call `__rust_start_panic`, which is provided by the panic runtime.

The call to `__rust_start_panic` is very weird - it is passed a `*mut &mut dyn PanicPayload`,
converted to an `usize`.
Let's break this type down:

1. `PanicPayload` is an internal trait.
   It is implemented for `PanicPayload`
  (a wrapper around the user-supplied payload type), and has a method
  `fn take_box(&mut self) -> *mut (dyn Any + Send)`.
  This method takes the user-provided payload (`T: Any + Send`),
  boxes it, and converts the box to a raw pointer.

2. When we call `__rust_start_panic`, we have an `&mut dyn PanicPayload`.
  However, this is a fat pointer (twice the size of a `usize`).
  To pass this to the panic runtime across an FFI boundary, we take a mutable
  reference *to this mutable reference* (`&mut &mut dyn PanicPayload`), and convert it to a raw
  pointer (`*mut &mut dyn PanicPayload`).
  The outer raw pointer is a thin pointer, since it points to a `Sized` type (a mutable reference).
  Therefore, we can convert this thin pointer into a `usize`,
  which is suitable for passing across an FFI boundary.

Finally, we call `__rust_start_panic` with this `usize`.
We have now entered the panic runtime.

## Step 2: The panic runtime

Rust provides two panic runtimes: `panic_abort` and `panic_unwind`.
The user chooses between them at build time via their `Cargo.toml`

`panic_abort` is extremely simple: its implementation of `__rust_start_panic` just aborts,
as you would expect.

`panic_unwind` is the more interesting case.

In its implementation of `__rust_start_panic`, we take the `usize`, convert
it back to a `*mut &mut dyn PanicPayload`, dereference it, and call `take_box`
on the `&mut dyn PanicPayload`.
At this point, we have a raw pointer to the payload
itself (a `*mut (dyn Send + Any)`): that is, a raw pointer to the actual value
provided by the user who called `panic!`.

At this point, the platform-independent code ends.
We now call into platform-specific unwinding logic (e.g `unwind`).
This code is responsible for unwinding the stack, running any 'landing pads' associated
with each frame (currently, running destructors), and transferring control
to the `catch_unwind` frame.

Note that all panics either abort the process or get caught by some call to `catch_unwind`.
In particular, in std's [runtime service],
the call to the user-provided `main` function is wrapped in `catch_unwind`.

[runtime service]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/HEAD/library/std/src/rt.rs
[`library/core/src/panicking.rs`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/core/panicking/index.html
[`compiler/rustc_hir/src/weak_lang_items.rs`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/HEAD/compiler/rustc_hir/src/weak_lang_items.rs
[`library/std/src/panicking.rs`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/HEAD/library/std/src/panicking.rs
[`compiler/rustc_passes/src/lang_items.rs`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_passes/lang_items/index.html
[`extract_ast`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_passes/lang_items/fn.extract_ast.html