Github rustc: Allow safe #[target_feature] on wasm by alexcrichton · Pull Reques...

This commit updates the compiler's handling of the #[target_feature]
attribute when applied to functions on WebAssembly-based targets. The
compiler in general requires that any functions with #[target_feature]
are marked as unsafe as well, but this commit relaxes the restriction
for WebAssembly targets where the attribute can be applied to safe
functions as well.

The reason this is done is that the motivation for this feature of the
compiler is not applicable for WebAssembly targets. In general the
#[target_feature] attribute is used to enhance target CPU features
enabled beyond the basic level for the rest of the compilation. If done
improperly this means that your program could execute an instruction
that the CPU you happen to be running on does not understand. This is
considered undefined behavior where it is unknown what will happen (e.g.
it's not a deterministic SIGILL).

For WebAssembly, however, the target is different. It is not possible
for a running WebAssembly program to execute an instruction that the
engine does not understand. If this were the case then the program would
not have validated in the first place and would not run at all. Even if
this were allowed in some hypothetical future where engines have some
form of runtime feature detection (which they do not right now) any
implementation of such a feature would generate a trap if a module
attempts to execute an instruction the module does not understand. This
deterministic trap behavior would still not fall into the category of
undefined behavior because the trap is deterministic.

For these reasons the #[target_feature] attribute is now allowed on
safe functions, but only for WebAssembly targets. This notably enables
the wasm-SIMD intrinsics proposed for stabilization in #74372 to be
marked as safe generally instead of today where they're all unsafe due
to the historical implementation of #[target_feature] in the compiler.