Why do I get a `trait bound `[T]: std::marker::Sized` is not satisfied when I try and implement Ord and Eq manually on unsized types?

Question

When creating a struct which stores a DST (e.g., a raw slice), I can use the normal #[derive(Eq, PartialEq, Ord, PartialOrd)] facility to get implementations of this trait on my type:

#[derive(PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord)]
struct A([u8]);

However, if I implement them manually, then the compiler will complain that my type does not implement Sized:

struct A([u8]);

impl AsRef<[u8]> for A {
    fn as_ref(&self) -> &[u8] {
        &self.0
    }
}

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]>> PartialEq<S> for A {
    fn eq(&self, other: &S) -> bool {
        self.0.eq(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Eq for A { }

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]>> PartialOrd<S> for A {
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &S) -> Option<Ordering> {
        let  slice: &[u8] = &self.0;
        slice.partial_cmp(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Ord for A {
    fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
        self.partial_cmp(&other).unwrap()
    }
}

Compiler result:

rustc 1.12.0 (3191fbae9 2016-09-23)
error[E0277]: the trait bound `[u8]: std::marker::Sized` is not satisfied
  --> <anon>:20:6
   |
20 | impl Eq for A { }
   |      ^^
   |
   = note: `[u8]` does not have a constant size known at compile-time
   = note: required because it appears within the type `A`
   = note: required because of the requirements on the impl of `std::cmp::PartialEq` for `A`
   = note: required by `std::cmp::Eq`

error[E0277]: the trait bound `[u8]: std::marker::Sized` is not satisfied
  --> <anon>:29:6
   |
29 | impl Ord for A {
   |      ^^^
   |
   = note: `[u8]` does not have a constant size known at compile-time
   = note: required because it appears within the type `A`
   = note: required because of the requirements on the impl of `std::cmp::PartialOrd` for `A`
   = note: required by `std::cmp::Ord`

If I create a variant of the type which does have a fixed size (e.g. by turning it into a fixed-size array), then I can manually implement the traits no problem.

struct B([u8; 5]);

impl AsRef<[u8]> for B {
    fn as_ref(&self) -> &[u8] {
        &self.0
    }
}

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]>> PartialEq<S> for B {
    fn eq(&self, other: &S) -> bool {
        self.0.eq(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Eq for B { }

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]>> PartialOrd<S> for B {
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &S) -> Option<Ordering> {
        let  slice: &[u8] = &self.0;
        slice.partial_cmp(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Ord for B {
    fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
        self.partial_cmp(&other).unwrap()
    }
}

Here is a playground link showing the issue.

My question is - how do I implement Ord and Eq on my custom DST, so that I can take advantage of the fact that I can partial_cmp/eq by any AsRef<[u8]>, but also use that to enforce the bounds for the Ord/Eq trait implementations, as I do with struct B in my example?

Answer 1

The problem is that S: AsRef<[u8]> is also restricting S to Sized types by default. You need to use ?Sized to opt-out of that.

All generic type parameters implicitly have the Sized bound, so the ?Sized can be used to opt-out of the implicit bound.

From the Rust Book.

The following compiles fine for me:

use std::cmp::Ordering;

struct A([u8]);

impl AsRef<[u8]> for A {
    fn as_ref(&self) -> &[u8] {
        &self.0
    }
}

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]> + ?Sized> PartialEq<S> for A {
    fn eq(&self, other: &S) -> bool {
        self.0.eq(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Eq for A {}

impl<S: AsRef<[u8]> + ?Sized> PartialOrd<S> for A {
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &S) -> Option<Ordering> {
        let slice: &[u8] = &self.0;
        slice.partial_cmp(other.as_ref())
    }
}

impl Ord for A {
    fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
        self.partial_cmp(&other).unwrap()
    }
}

Demo