Skip to content

Support pointer arithmetic in quantifier predicates#4583

Open
feliperodri wants to merge 1 commit intomodel-checking:mainfrom
feliperodri:quantifier-pointer-arithmetic
Open

Support pointer arithmetic in quantifier predicates#4583
feliperodri wants to merge 1 commit intomodel-checking:mainfrom
feliperodri:quantifier-pointer-arithmetic

Conversation

@feliperodri
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

@feliperodri feliperodri commented Apr 22, 2026

Lower wrapping pointer arithmetic intrinsics (wrapping_add, wrapping_byte_offset) directly to CBMC pointer Plus expressions in the pure expression inliner. These intrinsics have no GOTO body to inline, so they need special handling.

Problem

Quantifier predicates that dereference pointers with offsets — e.g., *ptr.wrapping_byte_offset(i as isize) — failed because the inline_as_pure_expr inliner couldn't resolve pointer arithmetic intrinsics. These functions have no body in the symbol table (they're compiler intrinsics), so the inliner returned the original expression unchanged, leaving unresolved function calls that CBMC rejected.

Solution

In inline_call_as_pure_expr (goto_ctx.rs), before attempting to look up the function body, check if the function name matches a known wrapping pointer arithmetic intrinsic (wrapping_add, wrapping_byte_offset). If so, directly emit ptr.plus(offset) — the CBMC expression for pointer arithmetic. A type guard (arguments[0].typ().is_pointer()) prevents misapplication to non-pointer functions.

Non-wrapping variants (offset, add, arith_offset) are intentionally excluded because they trigger CBMC bounds checks inside quantifier bodies, which fail in the symbolic evaluation context.

Example

kani::forall!(|i in (0, len)| unsafe { *ptr.wrapping_byte_offset(i as isize) == 0 })

Changes

  • goto_ctx.rs: Recognize wrapping pointer arithmetic intrinsics and lower to ptr.plus(offset)
  • rfc/src/rfcs/0010-quantifiers.md: Document pointer arithmetic intrinsic lowering in the Detailed Design section
  • tests/kani/Quantifiers/pointer_arithmetic.rs: 4 harnesses covering wrapping_byte_offset (forall + exists) and wrapping_add (u32 + u8)

By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution is made under the terms of the Apache 2.0 and MIT licenses.

@feliperodri feliperodri added this to the Contracts milestone Apr 22, 2026
@feliperodri feliperodri added [C] Feature / Enhancement A new feature request or enhancement to an existing feature. Z-Contracts Issue related to code contracts labels Apr 22, 2026
@github-actions github-actions Bot added Z-EndToEndBenchCI Tag a PR to run benchmark CI Z-CompilerBenchCI Tag a PR to run benchmark CI labels Apr 22, 2026
@feliperodri feliperodri force-pushed the quantifier-pointer-arithmetic branch 3 times, most recently from 79e456b to b3ebaec Compare April 22, 2026 20:11
Lower known pointer arithmetic intrinsics (wrapping_add, wrapping_byte_offset,
arith_offset, offset) directly to CBMC pointer Plus expressions in the pure
expression inliner. These intrinsics have no GOTO body to inline, so they
need special handling in inline_call_as_pure_expr.

This enables quantifier predicates like:
  forall!(|i in (0, len)| unsafe { *ptr.wrapping_byte_offset(i as isize) == 0 })

Changes:
- goto_ctx.rs: Recognize pointer arithmetic intrinsics by name and emit
  ptr.plus(offset) directly
- rfc/0010-quantifiers.md: Document pointer arithmetic intrinsic lowering
  in the Detailed Design section
- tests/kani/Quantifiers/pointer_arithmetic.rs: Dedicated test with 3
  harnesses (wrapping_byte_offset forall/exists, wrapping_add forall)
@feliperodri feliperodri force-pushed the quantifier-pointer-arithmetic branch from b3ebaec to 546e834 Compare April 22, 2026 20:12
@feliperodri feliperodri marked this pull request as ready for review April 22, 2026 20:14
@feliperodri feliperodri requested a review from a team as a code owner April 22, 2026 20:14
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

[C] Feature / Enhancement A new feature request or enhancement to an existing feature. Z-CompilerBenchCI Tag a PR to run benchmark CI Z-Contracts Issue related to code contracts Z-EndToEndBenchCI Tag a PR to run benchmark CI

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

1 participant