I have some code were I want to share a Read + Seek object between threads and memory.
However, when I want to return (to fullfill a trait in the rust-vfs crate), I need to rust a Box<dyn VPath> . I do a clone of the actual struct, that contain a PathBuf and an Arc (that contain another Arc<Mutex>). The compiler dont accept this, as it can be seen with this code: link to the rust playground
It work if, as suggested by the compiler, I add 'static to the generic ( working version ). I have however no idea what does this 'static mean in the generic context, a not being a static, as I can modify it without using unsafe code. Can someone indicate me what this mean ?
What 'static means, when used as a bound on a type, is that the type does not contain any fields with references that have non-'static lifetimes. For example, if you define a struct as follows:
struct Foo<'a> {
x : &'a [u8]
};
Then, unless you are borrowing something static, it is not the case that Foo<'a> : 'static, but we do have that Foo<'a> : 'a because it doesn't contain any references that live shorter than 'a. A struct without references is always 'static.
In your case, the problem comes from the fact that trait objects are implicitly 'static by default, so Box<dyn Trait> is equivalent to Box<dyn Trait + 'static. The thing you put in the Box therefore needs to be 'static. You can specify a different lifetime using + 'a if you want, but you need the same bound on the generic input to the function.