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provenance is ghost state
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reference/src/glossary.md

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@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ Abstract Rust Machine is intended to operate according to the definition here.
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#### (Pointer) Provenance
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The *provenance* of a pointer is used, in the Rust Abstract Machine, to distinguish pointers that point to the same memory address (i.e., pointers that, when cast to `usize`, will compare equal).
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The *provenance* of a pointer is used to distinguish pointers that point to the same memory address (i.e., pointers that, when cast to `usize`, will compare equal).
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Provenance is extra state that only exists in the Rust Abstract Machine; it is needed to specify program behavior but not present any more when the program runs on real hardware.
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For example, we have to distinguish pointers to the same location if they originated from different allocations.
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Cross-allocation pointer arithmetic [does not lead to usable pointers](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/primitive.pointer.html#method.wrapping_offset), so the Rust Abstract Machine *somehow* has to remember the original allocation to which a pointer pointed.

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