bevy/crates/bevy_asset
Jakob Hellermann 0cb0d8b55d add UnsafeWorldCell abstraction (#6404)
alternative to #5922, implements #5956 
builds on top of https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/pull/6402

# Objective

https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/issues/5956 goes into more detail, but the TLDR is:
- bevy systems ensure disjoint accesses to resources and components, and for that to work there are methods `World::get_resource_unchecked_mut(&self)`, ..., `EntityRef::get_mut_unchecked(&self)` etc.
- we don't have these unchecked methods for `by_id` variants, so third-party crate authors cannot build their own safe disjoint-access abstractions with these
- having `_unchecked_mut` methods is not great, because in their presence safe code can accidentally violate subtle invariants. Having to go through `world.as_unsafe_world_cell().unsafe_method()` forces you to stop and think about what you want to write in your `// SAFETY` comment.

The alternative is to keep exposing `_unchecked_mut` variants for every operation that we want third-party crates to build upon, but we'd prefer to avoid using these methods alltogether: https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/pull/5922#issuecomment-1241954543

Also, this is something that **cannot be implemented outside of bevy**, so having either this PR or #5922 as an escape hatch with lots of discouraging comments would be great.

## Solution

- add `UnsafeWorldCell` with `unsafe fn get_resource(&self)`, `unsafe fn get_resource_mut(&self)`
- add `fn World::as_unsafe_world_cell(&mut self) -> UnsafeWorldCell<'_>` (and `as_unsafe_world_cell_readonly(&self)`)
- add `UnsafeWorldCellEntityRef` with `unsafe fn get`, `unsafe fn get_mut` and the other utilities on `EntityRef` (no methods for spawning, despawning, insertion)
- use the `UnsafeWorldCell` abstraction in `ReflectComponent`, `ReflectResource` and `ReflectAsset`, so these APIs are easier to reason about
- remove `World::get_resource_mut_unchecked`, `EntityRef::get_mut_unchecked` and use `unsafe { world.as_unsafe_world_cell().get_mut() }` and `unsafe { world.as_unsafe_world_cell().get_entity(entity)?.get_mut() }` instead

This PR does **not** make use of `UnsafeWorldCell` for anywhere else in `bevy_ecs` such as `SystemParam` or `Query`. That is a much larger change, and I am convinced that having `UnsafeWorldCell` is already useful for third-party crates.

Implemented API:

```rust
struct World { .. }
impl World {
  fn as_unsafe_world_cell(&self) -> UnsafeWorldCell<'_>;
}

struct UnsafeWorldCell<'w>(&'w World);
impl<'w> UnsafeWorldCell {
  unsafe fn world(&self) -> &World;

  fn get_entity(&self) -> UnsafeWorldCellEntityRef<'w>; // returns 'w which is `'self` of the `World::as_unsafe_world_cell(&'w self)`

  unsafe fn get_resource<T>(&self) -> Option<&'w T>;
  unsafe fn get_resource_by_id(&self, ComponentId) -> Option<&'w T>;
  unsafe fn get_resource_mut<T>(&self) -> Option<Mut<'w, T>>;
  unsafe fn get_resource_mut_by_id(&self) -> Option<MutUntyped<'w>>;
  unsafe fn get_non_send_resource<T>(&self) -> Option<&'w T>;
  unsafe fn get_non_send_resource_mut<T>(&self) -> Option<Mut<'w, T>>>;

  // not included: remove, remove_resource, despawn, anything that might change archetypes
}

struct UnsafeWorldCellEntityRef<'w> { .. }
impl UnsafeWorldCellEntityRef<'w> {
  unsafe fn get<T>(&self, Entity) -> Option<&'w T>;
  unsafe fn get_by_id(&self, Entity, ComponentId) -> Option<Ptr<'w>>;
  unsafe fn get_mut<T>(&self, Entity) -> Option<Mut<'w, T>>;
  unsafe fn get_mut_by_id(&self, Entity, ComponentId) -> Option<MutUntyped<'w>>;
  unsafe fn get_change_ticks<T>(&self, Entity) -> Option<Mut<'w, T>>;
  // fn id, archetype, contains, contains_id, containts_type_id
}
```

<details>
<summary>UnsafeWorldCell docs</summary>

Variant of the [`World`] where resource and component accesses takes a `&World`, and the responsibility to avoid
aliasing violations are given to the caller instead of being checked at compile-time by rust's unique XOR shared rule.

### Rationale
In rust, having a `&mut World` means that there are absolutely no other references to the safe world alive at the same time,
without exceptions. Not even unsafe code can change this.

But there are situations where careful shared mutable access through a type is possible and safe. For this, rust provides the [`UnsafeCell`](std::cell::UnsafeCell)
escape hatch, which allows you to get a `*mut T` from a `&UnsafeCell<T>` and around which safe abstractions can be built.

Access to resources and components can be done uniquely using [`World::resource_mut`] and [`World::entity_mut`], and shared using [`World::resource`] and [`World::entity`].
These methods use lifetimes to check at compile time that no aliasing rules are being broken.

This alone is not enough to implement bevy systems where multiple systems can access *disjoint* parts of the world concurrently. For this, bevy stores all values of
resources and components (and [`ComponentTicks`](crate::component::ComponentTicks)) in [`UnsafeCell`](std::cell::UnsafeCell)s, and carefully validates disjoint access patterns using
APIs like [`System::component_access`](crate::system::System::component_access).

A system then can be executed using [`System::run_unsafe`](crate::system::System::run_unsafe) with a `&World` and use methods with interior mutability to access resource values.
access resource values.

### Example Usage

[`UnsafeWorldCell`] can be used as a building block for writing APIs that safely allow disjoint access into the world.
In the following example, the world is split into a resource access half and a component access half, where each one can
safely hand out mutable references.

```rust
use bevy_ecs::world::World;
use bevy_ecs::change_detection::Mut;
use bevy_ecs::system::Resource;
use bevy_ecs::world::unsafe_world_cell_world::UnsafeWorldCell;

// INVARIANT: existance of this struct means that users of it are the only ones being able to access resources in the world
struct OnlyResourceAccessWorld<'w>(UnsafeWorldCell<'w>);
// INVARIANT: existance of this struct means that users of it are the only ones being able to access components in the world
struct OnlyComponentAccessWorld<'w>(UnsafeWorldCell<'w>);

impl<'w> OnlyResourceAccessWorld<'w> {
    fn get_resource_mut<T: Resource>(&mut self) -> Option<Mut<'w, T>> {
        // SAFETY: resource access is allowed through this UnsafeWorldCell
        unsafe { self.0.get_resource_mut::<T>() }
    }
}
// impl<'w> OnlyComponentAccessWorld<'w> {
//     ...
// }

// the two interior mutable worlds borrow from the `&mut World`, so it cannot be accessed while they are live
fn split_world_access(world: &mut World) -> (OnlyResourceAccessWorld<'_>, OnlyComponentAccessWorld<'_>) {
    let resource_access = OnlyResourceAccessWorld(unsafe { world.as_unsafe_world_cell() });
    let component_access = OnlyComponentAccessWorld(unsafe { world.as_unsafe_world_cell() });
    (resource_access, component_access)
}
```


</details>
2023-01-27 00:12:13 +00:00
..
src add UnsafeWorldCell abstraction (#6404) 2023-01-27 00:12:13 +00:00
Cargo.toml Release 0.9.0 (#6568) 2022-11-12 20:01:29 +00:00