From 429a4f133056d5632f7c01c9ad5e7bf00f2b1303 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: iris-ai <4+iris-ai@noreply.localhost>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:16:44 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Drop the refcount a widget handle can never raise

StrongWidget has no Clone on purpose, so the RefCounter in it never counted
anything: the count stayed at zero, RefCounter::drop always answered true,
and StrongWidget::refs had no caller -- while every widget made paid a heap
allocation for an Arc<AtomicU32> and every one created or dropped paid two
atomic read-modify-writes. The handle is the id, the sender and the type now,
and Drop sends. It is 32 bytes rather than 40, and 40 rather than 48 for a
dyn one.

RefCounter stays for TextureHandle, which does clone -- several widgets
showing one picture share its slot -- and is trimmed to what that needs:
quiet_clone and refs had no callers at all, and new was Default spelt out.

Bryan asked for this in #19 rather than in the review of the code written
before the gate, where the fourteenth sweep had left it.
---
 core/src/primitive/texture.rs |  2 +-
 core/src/util/refcount.rs     | 21 +++++----------------
 core/src/widget/handle.rs     | 18 +++++-------------
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-)

diff --git a/core/src/primitive/texture.rs b/core/src/primitive/texture.rs
index 4671c29..e9d9e6b 100644
--- a/core/src/primitive/texture.rs
+++ b/core/src/primitive/texture.rs
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ impl Textures {
         TextureHandle {
             slot: self.push(image),
             size,
-            counter: RefCounter::new(),
+            counter: RefCounter::default(),
             send: self.send.clone(),
         }
     }
diff --git a/core/src/util/refcount.rs b/core/src/util/refcount.rs
index 77c1660..a72af94 100644
--- a/core/src/util/refcount.rs
+++ b/core/src/util/refcount.rs
@@ -3,29 +3,18 @@ use std::sync::{
     atomic::{AtomicU32, Ordering},
 };
 
-#[derive(Debug)]
+/// How many handles to one thing there are, less one: a fresh counter is a
+/// single handle, which is what the derived default gives. Only
+/// [`crate::TextureHandle`] has any, a texture slot being shared by every
+/// widget drawing that picture.
+#[derive(Debug, Default)]
 pub struct RefCounter(Arc<AtomicU32>);
 
 impl RefCounter {
-    pub fn new() -> Self {
-        Self(Arc::new(0.into()))
-    }
-    pub fn refs(&self) -> u32 {
-        self.0.load(Ordering::Acquire)
-    }
     pub fn drop(&mut self) -> bool {
         let refs = self.0.fetch_sub(1, Ordering::Release);
         refs == 0
     }
-    pub fn quiet_clone(&self) -> Self {
-        Self(self.0.clone())
-    }
-}
-
-impl Default for RefCounter {
-    fn default() -> Self {
-        Self::new()
-    }
 }
 
 impl Clone for RefCounter {
diff --git a/core/src/widget/handle.rs b/core/src/widget/handle.rs
index 7b52275..612b864 100644
--- a/core/src/widget/handle.rs
+++ b/core/src/widget/handle.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 use std::{marker::Unsize, ops::CoerceUnsized, sync::mpsc::Sender};
 
-use crate::{
-    UiRsc, Widget,
-    util::{RefCounter, SlotId},
-};
+use crate::{UiRsc, Widget, util::SlotId};
 
 pub type WidgetId = SlotId;
 
@@ -11,10 +8,12 @@ pub type WidgetId = SlotId;
 /// This is a strong handle that does not impl Clone, and when it is dropped,
 /// a signal is sent to the owning UI to clean up the resources.
 ///
+/// There is nothing to count: not being `Clone` is what makes one handle the
+/// only one, so the drop is the last one and the widget is one container's.
+///
 /// TODO: ergonomic clones when they get put in rust-analyzer & don't cause ICEs?
 pub struct StrongWidget<W: ?Sized = dyn Widget> {
     pub(super) id: WidgetId,
-    counter: RefCounter,
     send: Sender<WidgetId>,
     ty: *const W,
 }
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ impl<W: ?Sized> StrongWidget<W> {
     pub(crate) fn new(id: WidgetId, send: Sender<WidgetId>) -> Self {
         Self {
             id,
-            counter: RefCounter::new(),
             send,
             ty: null_ptr(),
         }
@@ -47,10 +45,6 @@ impl<W: ?Sized> StrongWidget<W> {
         self.id
     }
 
-    pub fn refs(&self) -> u32 {
-        self.counter.refs()
-    }
-
     pub fn weak(&self) -> WeakWidget<W> {
         let Self { ty, id, .. } = *self;
         WeakWidget { ty, id }
@@ -74,9 +68,7 @@ impl<W: ?Sized> WeakWidget<W> {
 
 impl<W: ?Sized> Drop for StrongWidget<W> {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        if self.counter.drop() {
-            let _ = self.send.send(self.id);
-        }
+        let _ = self.send.send(self.id);
     }
 }