Adding 16-bit pointer support

compiler
3

Write an RFC, is my opinion

I realized that my wording was not clear - I only intend to upstream support for 16-bit pointers (the build system modifications, however useful, are only half-baked right now).

The patch I hope to get merge consists solely of copy-pasting constants:

pub const DTOR_NEEDED_U16: u16 = repeat_u8_as_u16!(DTOR_NEEDED); // added this
pub const DTOR_NEEDED_U32: u32 = repeat_u8_as_u32!(DTOR_NEEDED);

and match arms to handle 16-bit pointers

match target_pointer_width {
    "16" => TyInt(TyI16), // added this
    "32" => TyInt(TyI32),
    ...
}

The Rust RFC README states that things adding solely "better platform coverage" and "additions only likely to be noticed by other developers-of-rust, invisible to users-of-rust" do not require an RFC.

That said, I am happy to write an RFC if it would be preferred :smile:

This post is mostly wondering whether the compiler team thinks that adding support for something that is not even going to be used in-tree is going to be worth the (admittedly small) maintence burden.