@@ -181,10 +181,29 @@ pub struct Mutex<T: ?Sized> {
181181 data : UnsafeCell < T > ,
182182}
183183
184- // these are the only places where `T: Send` matters; all other
185- // functionality works fine on a single thread.
184+ /// `T` must be `Send` for a [`Mutex`] to be `Send` because it is possible to acquire
185+ /// the owned `T` from the `Mutex` via [`into_inner`].
186+ ///
187+ /// [`into_inner`]: Mutex::into_inner
186188#[ stable( feature = "rust1" , since = "1.0.0" ) ]
187189unsafe impl < T : ?Sized + Send > Send for Mutex < T > { }
190+
191+ /// `T` must be `Send` for [`Mutex`] to be `Sync`.
192+ /// This ensures that the protected data can be accessed safely from multiple threads
193+ /// without causing data races or other unsafe behavior.
194+ ///
195+ /// [`Mutex<T>`] provides mutable access to `T` to one thread at a time. However, it's essential
196+ /// for `T` to be `Send` because it's not safe for non-`Send` structures to be accessed in
197+ /// this manner. For instance, consider [`Rc`], a non-atomic reference counted smart pointer,
198+ /// which is not `Send`. With `Rc`, we can have multiple copies pointing to the same heap
199+ /// allocation with a non-atomic reference count. If we were to use `Mutex<Rc<_>>`, it would
200+ /// only protect one instance of `Rc` from shared access, leaving other copies vulnerable
201+ /// to potential data races.
202+ ///
203+ /// Also note that it is not necessary for `T` to be `Sync` as `&T` is only made available
204+ /// to one thread at a time if `T` is not `Sync`.
205+ ///
206+ /// [`Rc`]: crate::rc::Rc
188207#[ stable( feature = "rust1" , since = "1.0.0" ) ]
189208unsafe impl < T : ?Sized + Send > Sync for Mutex < T > { }
190209
@@ -211,8 +230,17 @@ pub struct MutexGuard<'a, T: ?Sized + 'a> {
211230 poison : poison:: Guard ,
212231}
213232
233+ /// A [`MutexGuard`] is not `Send` to maximize platform portablity.
234+ ///
235+ /// On platforms that use POSIX threads (commonly referred to as pthreads) there is a requirement to
236+ /// release mutex locks on the same thread they were acquired.
237+ /// For this reason, [`MutexGuard`] must not implement `Send` to prevent it being dropped from
238+ /// another thread.
214239#[ stable( feature = "rust1" , since = "1.0.0" ) ]
215240impl < T : ?Sized > !Send for MutexGuard < ' _ , T > { }
241+
242+ /// `T` must be `Sync` for a [`MutexGuard<T>`] to be `Sync`
243+ /// because it is possible to get a `&T` from `&MutexGuard` (via `Deref`).
216244#[ stable( feature = "mutexguard" , since = "1.19.0" ) ]
217245unsafe impl < T : ?Sized + Sync > Sync for MutexGuard < ' _ , T > { }
218246
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