A RustConf 2026 talk covered the effort to let user-defined smart pointers support operations currently available to native references.
Published on October 2, 2026, this item reports on a RustConf 2026 talk by Tyler Mandry, the Rust project's language team lead. It covered a long-running effort to make user-defined smart pointers as flexible as native references.
Rust has several smart-pointer types, in its standard library and created by users. According to the report, some operations possible with native references cannot yet be performed with these custom pointers. The talk addressed a proposal to narrow that gap. For technical detail and context, consult the original LWN article and the RustConf presentation, if available; compare the account with primary sources before applying code changes.