Thread '<main>' has overflowed its stack when allocating a large array using Box

Question

I'm implementing combsort. I'd like to create fixed-size array on the stack, but it shows stack overflow. When I change it to be on the heap (Rust by Example says to allocate in the heap we must use Box), it still shows stack overflow.

fn new_gap(gap: usize) -> usize {
    let ngap = ((gap as f64) / 1.3) as usize;
    if ngap == 9 || ngap == 10 {
        return 11;
    }
    if ngap < 1 {
        return 1;
    }
    return ngap;
}

fn comb_sort(a: &mut Box<[f64]>) {
    // previously: [f64]
    let xlen = a.len();
    let mut gap = xlen;
    let mut swapped: bool;
    let mut temp: f64;
    loop {
        swapped = false;
        gap = new_gap(gap);
        for i in 0..(xlen - gap) {
            if a[i] > a[i + gap] {
                swapped = true;
                temp = a[i];
                a[i] = a[i + gap];
                a[i + gap] = temp;
            }
        }
        if !(gap > 1 || swapped) {
            break;
        }
    }
}

const N: usize = 10000000;

fn main() {
    let mut arr: Box<[f64]> = Box::new([0.0; N]); // previously: [f64; N] = [0.0; N];
    for z in 0..(N) {
        arr[z] = (N - z) as f64;
    }
    comb_sort(&mut arr);
    for z in 1..(N) {
        if arr[z] < arr[z - 1] {
            print!("!")
        }
    }
}

The output:

thread '<main>' has overflowed its stack
Illegal instruction (core dumped)

Or

thread 'main' has overflowed its stack
fatal runtime error: stack overflow

I know that my stack size is not enough, the same as C++ when creating a non-heap array that is too big inside a function, but this code is using heap but still shows stack overflow. What's really wrong with this code?

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, it seems like that code is still trying to allocate the array on the stack first, and then move it into the box after.

It works for me if I switch to Vec<f64> in place of Box<[f64]> like this:

fn new_gap(gap: usize) -> usize {
    let ngap = ((gap as f64) / 1.3) as usize;
    if ngap == 9 || ngap == 10 {
        return 11;
    }
    if ngap < 1 {
        return 1;
    }
    return ngap;
}

fn comb_sort(a: &mut [f64]) {
    // previously: [f64]
    let xlen = a.len();
    let mut gap = xlen;
    let mut swapped: bool;
    let mut temp: f64;
    loop {
        swapped = false;
        gap = new_gap(gap);
        for i in 0..(xlen - gap) {
            if a[i] > a[i + gap] {
                swapped = true;
                temp = a[i];
                a[i] = a[i + gap];
                a[i + gap] = temp;
            }
        }
        if !(gap > 1 || swapped) {
            break;
        }
    }
}

const N: usize = 10000000;

fn main() {
    let mut arr: Vec<f64> = std::iter::repeat(0.0).take(N).collect();
    //let mut arr: Box<[f64]> = Box::new([0.0; N]); // previously: [f64; N] = [0.0; N];
    for z in 0..(N) {
        arr[z] = (N - z) as f64;
    }
    comb_sort(arr.as_mut_slice());
    for z in 1..(N) {
        if arr[z] < arr[z - 1] {
            print!("!")
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

In the future, the box syntax will be stabilized. When it is, it will support this large allocation, as no function call to Box::new will be needed, thus the array will never be placed on the stack. For example:

#![feature(box_syntax)]

fn main() {
    let v = box [0i32; 5_000_000];
    println!("{}", v[1_000_000])
}