doc: expand on runtime / spawn docs (#1914)

2 files changed, 83 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/tokio/src/runtime/mod.rs b/tokio/src/runtime/mod.rs
index 45c2bd5e..9fb57e14 100644
--- a/tokio/src/runtime/mod.rs
+++ b/tokio/src/runtime/mod.rs
@@ -161,6 +161,16 @@
 //! This is done with [`Builder::enable_io`] and [`Builder::enable_time`]. As a
 //! shorthand, [`Builder::enable_all`] enables both resource drivers.
 //!
+//! ## Lifetime of spawned threads
+//!
+//! The runtime may spawn threads depending on its configuration and usage. The
+//! threaded scheduler spawns threads to schedule tasks and calls to
+//! `spawn_blocking` spawn threads to run blocking operations.
+//!
+//! While the `Runtime` is active, threads may shutdown after periods of being
+//! idle. Once `Runtime` is dropped, all runtime threads are forcibly shutdown.
+//! Any tasks that have not yet completed will be dropped.
+//!
 //! [tasks]: crate::task
 //! [driver]: crate::io::driver
 //! [executor]: https://tokio.rs/docs/internals/runtime-model/#executors
diff --git a/tokio/src/task/spawn.rs b/tokio/src/task/spawn.rs
index ab1356c8..131fca5b 100644
--- a/tokio/src/task/spawn.rs
+++ b/tokio/src/task/spawn.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ doc_rt_core! {
     /// different thread to be executed. The specifics depend on the current
     /// [`Runtime`](crate::runtime::Runtime) configuration.
     ///
+    /// There is no guarantee that a spawned task will execute to completion.
+    /// When a runtime is shutdown, all outstanding tasks are dropped,
+    /// regardless of the lifecycle of that task.
+    ///
     /// # Examples
     ///
     /// In this example, a server is started and `spawn` is used to start a new task
@@ -45,6 +49,75 @@ doc_rt_core! {
     /// # Panics
     ///
     /// Panics if called from **outside** of the Tokio runtime.
+    ///
+    /// # Using `!Send` values from a task
+    ///
+    /// The task supplied to `spawn` must implement `!Send`. However, it is
+    /// possible to **use** `!Send` values from the task as long as they only
+    /// exist between calls to `.await`.
+    ///
+    /// For example, this will work:
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// use tokio::task;
+    ///
+    /// use std::rc::Rc;
+    ///
+    /// fn use_rc(rc: Rc<()>) {
+    ///     // Do stuff w/ rc
+    /// # drop(rc);
+    /// }
+    ///
+    /// #[tokio::main]
+    /// async fn main() {
+    ///     tokio::spawn(async {
+    ///         // Force the `Rc` to stay in a scope with no `.await`
+    ///         {
+    ///             let rc = Rc::new(());
+    ///             use_rc(rc.clone());
+    ///         }
+    ///
+    ///         task::yield_now().await;
+    ///     }).await.unwrap();
+    /// }
+    /// ```
+    ///
+    /// This will **not** work:
+    ///
+    /// ```compile_fail
+    /// use tokio::task;
+    ///
+    /// use std::rc::Rc;
+    ///
+    /// fn use_rc(rc: Rc<()>) {
+    ///     // Do stuff w/ rc
+    /// # drop(rc);
+    /// }
+    ///
+    /// #[tokio::main]
+    /// async fn main() {
+    ///     tokio::spawn(async {
+    ///         let rc = Rc::new(());
+    ///
+    ///         task::yield_now().await;
+    ///
+    ///         use_rc(rc.clone());
+    ///     }).await.unwrap();
+    /// }
+    /// ```
+    ///
+    /// Holding on to a `!Send` value across calls to `.await` will result in
+    /// an unfriendly compile error message similar to:
+    ///
+    /// ```text
+    /// `[... some type ...]` cannot be sent between threads safely
+    /// ```
+    ///
+    /// or:
+    ///
+    /// ```text
+    /// error[E0391]: cycle detected when processing `main`
+    /// ```
     pub fn spawn<T>(task: T) -> JoinHandle<T::Output>
     where
         T: Future + Send + 'static,