Zero lifetime for references that never exist

I stumbled upon a case where I need the lifetime to be as narrow as possible so that if I have any generic types references under this lifetime (&'a T), I don't need them to be bound to the lifetime (where T: 'a). The need comes from a vector of references that I want to re-use under different lifetimes. A simple example:

struct Foo<'a> {
    bar: Vec<&'a bool>,
}

impl<'a> Foo<'a> {
    fn reset(mut self) -> Foo<'static> { // need 'zero here!
        use std::mem::transmute;
        self.bar.clear();
        // technically safe, since the vector is empty
        Foo {
            bar: unsafe { transmute(self.bar) },
        }
    }
}

// using 'zero here will probably require another transmute(), but it's still safe
impl Foo<'static> {
    fn fill<'a>(self, element: &'a bool) -> Foo<'a> {
        let mut bar = self.bar;
        bar.push(element);
        Foo {
            bar: bar,
        }
    }
}

The example uses 'static as a "rest" point, where the vector is guaranteed to be empty. The real case though is more ugly. Also, I can't afford 'static bound on my generic parameters, and it shouldn't be needed in the first place, since I only use 'static references in an empty vector. Hence, I need a 'zero lifetime for the "rest" point of my reference vector, so that no additional (unneeded) bounds are placed on the used types.

From Rust point of view, anything can't exist with 'zero lifetime. But in my case it's not really used for any living reference, it's just used in the type signature, so I don't see any contradiction with the borrow checker rules.

1 Like

What if you transmute it to a vector of raw pointers?
Actually, that won't work because your Foo type expects some lifetime (unless you're willing to have two types: EmptyFoo, Foo.