Tera::render_str() takes a &mut self while it can work with a non-mutable reference.

[k1rowashere]

Context: I want to render a one off template, while using my custom filters, and macros.

TEMPLATES.render_str() is perfect for that, but it requires a &mut self, which is a problem because I have my Tera as a global static, and I don't want to wrap it in Arc:<Mutex<...>>.

It is mutable because of a call toself.build_inheritance_chains().

May I suggest :

1. A non-mutable version where it disallows inheritance (using an assert! or return an error).
2. Replace the existing method, but do the check without rebuilding (requires major refactoring/rewriting some logic to avoid code duplication).

p.s. I am willing to open a PR, but I am not familiar enough with codebase ( yet :) ).

Thank you

[azemlya]

Yes, I don't understand either. If all the objects in Tera are wrapped in Arc, then Mutex is also suggested inside for internal mutability. Otherwise, why Arc? If you wanted to block the ability to change, then it would be better to use Rc for speed. Now, apparently, it is very time-consuming to make such changes...

[Keats]

It's not going to change for v1 but we can add option 1 and/or 2 for v2. The initial reasoning was that some people would want inheritance for string rendering but maybe it was an incomplete assumption?

[k1rowashere]

It's not going to change for v1 but we can add option 1 and/or 2 for v2. The initial reasoning was that some people would want inheritance for string rendering but maybe it was an incomplete assumption?

I think we could still have inheritance without mutating the original templates (maybe in v1?).

We can assume that the chains are already built, just calculate it for the oneoff template?

This would only require changing the implementation of render_str, and would be backwards compatable. (Cargo might give warnings for unnecesary mut refs)

Also i think this would be woth the hassle, because the performance cost for arc mutex would be a lot. (In my use case a lt least,).