PR2: Peephole Raw Pointer Rewriting with LLMs for Translating C to Safer Rust

Yifei Gao, Chengpeng Wang, Pengxiang Huang, Xuwei Liu, Mingwei Zheng, Xiangyu Zhang·May 07, 2025

Summary

PR2 boosts C-to-Rust translation safety, removing raw pointers & using decision-tree prompting. It successfully eliminates 13.22% local raw pointers, enhancing safety. On average, it completes a project's transformation in 5.44 hours at $1.46 cost, outperforming LAERTES and NOPCRAT in cost-effectiveness. PR2 optimizes programs, converting 1,964 unique raw pointers, 3.48 times more than LAERTES, enhancing memory safety. Large language models are increasingly used for software tasks, including code analysis, refactoring, and testing, with potential for efficiency improvements.

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