Add subtask.cancel/task.cancel built-ins

design/mvp/Async.md

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ summary of the motivation and animated sketch of the design in action.
   * [Backpressure](#backpressure)
   * [Returning](#returning)
   * [Borrows](#borrows)
+  * [Cancellation](#cancellation)
 * [Async ABI](#async-abi)
   * [Async Import ABI](#async-import-abi)
   * [Async Export ABI](#async-export-abi)
@@ -470,9 +471,9 @@ loop interleaving `stream.read`s (of the readable end passed for `in`) and
 `stream.write`s (of the writable end it `stream.new`ed) before exiting the
 task.
 
-Once `task.return` is called, the task is in the "returned" state. A task can
-only finish once it is in the "returned" state. See the [`canon_task_return`]
-function in the Canonical ABI explainer for more details.
+Once `task.return` is called, the task is in the "returned" state and can
+finish execution any time thereafter. See the [`canon_task_return`] function in
+the Canonical ABI explainer for more details.
 
 ### Borrows
 
@@ -495,6 +496,55 @@ there can be multiple overlapping async tasks executing in a component
 instance, a borrowed handle must track *which* task's `num_borrow`s was
 incremented so that the correct counter can be decremented.
 
+### Cancellation
+
+Once an async call has started, blocked and been added to the caller's table of
+waitables, the caller may decide that it no longer needs the results or effects
+of the subtask. In this case, the caller may **cancel** the subtask by calling
+the [`subtask.cancel`] built-in.
+
+Once cancellation is requested, since the subtask may have already racily
+returned a value, the caller may still receive a return value. However, the
+caller may also be notified that the subtask is in one of two additional
+terminal states:
+* the subtask was **cancelled before it started**, in which case the caller's
+  arguments were not passed to the callee (in particular, owned handles were
+  not transferred); or
+* the subtask was **cancelled before it returned**, in which case the arguments
+  were passed, but no values were returned. However, all borrowed handles lent
+  during the call have been dropped.
+
+Thus there are *three* terminal states for a subtask: returned,
+cancelled-before-started and cancelled-before-returned. A subtask in one of
+these terminal states is said to be **resolved**. A resolved subtask has always
+dropped all the borrowed handles that it was lent during the call.
+
+As with the rest of async, cancellation is *cooperative*, allowing the subtask
+a chance to execute and clean up before it transitions to a resolved state (and
+relinquishes its borrowed handles). Since there are valid use cases where
+successful cancellation requires performing additional I/O using borrowed
+handles and potentially blocking in the process, the Component Model does not
+impose any limits on what a subtask can do after receiving a cancellation
+request nor is there a non-cooperative option to force termination (instead,
+this functionality would come as part of a future "[blast zone]" feature).
+Thus, the `subtask.cancel` built-in can block and works just like an import
+call in that it can be called synchronously or asynchronously.
+
+On the callee side of cancellation: when a caller requests cancellation via
+`subtask.cancel`, the callee receives a [`TASK_CANCELLED`] event (as produced
+by one of the `waitable-set.{wait,poll}` or `yield` built-ins or as received by
+the `callback` function). Upon receiving notice of cancellation, the callee can
+call the [`task.cancel`] built-in to resolve the subtask without returning a
+value. Alternatively, the callee can still call [`task.return`] as-if there
+were no cancellation. `task.cancel` doesn't take a value to return but does
+enforce the same [borrow](#borrows) rules as `task.return`. Ideally, a callee
+will `task.cancel` itself as soon as possible after receiving a
+`TASK_CANCELLED` event so that any caller waiting for the recovery of lent
+handles is unblocked ASAP. As with `task.return`, after calling `task.cancel`,
+a callee can continue executing before exiting the task.
+
+See the [`canon_subtask_cancel`] and [`canon_task_cancel`] functions in the
+Canonical ABI explainer for more details.
 
 ## Async ABI
 
@@ -924,8 +974,6 @@ will be added in future chunks roughly in the order listed to complete the full
 comes after:
 * remove the temporary trap mentioned above that occurs when a `read` and
   `write` of a stream/future happen from within the same component instance
-* `subtask.cancel`: allow a supertask to signal to a subtask that its result is
-  no longer wanted and to please wrap it up promptly
 * zero-copy forwarding/splicing
 * some way to say "no more elements are coming for a while"
 * `recursive` function type attribute: allow a function to opt in to
@@ -958,6 +1006,8 @@ comes after:
 [`context.set`]: Explainer.md#-contextset
 [`backpressure.set`]: Explainer.md#-backpressureset
 [`task.return`]: Explainer.md#-taskreturn
+[`task.cancel`]: Explainer.md#-taskcancel
+[`subtask.cancel`]: Explainer.md#-subtaskcancel
 [`yield`]: Explainer.md#-yield
 [`waitable-set.wait`]: Explainer.md#-waitable-setwait
 [`waitable-set.poll`]: Explainer.md#-waitable-setpoll
@@ -973,10 +1023,13 @@ comes after:
 [`canon_backpressure_set`]: CanonicalABI.md#-canon-backpressureset
 [`canon_waitable_set_wait`]: CanonicalABI.md#-canon-waitable-setwait
 [`canon_task_return`]: CanonicalABI.md#-canon-taskreturn
+[`canon_task_cancel`]: CanonicalABI.md#-canon-taskcancel
+[`canon_subtask_cancel`]: CanonicalABI.md#-canon-subtaskcancel
 [`Task`]: CanonicalABI.md#task-state
 [`Task.enter`]: CanonicalABI.md#task-state
 [`Task.wait_on`]: CanonicalABI.md#task-state
 [`Waitable`]: CanonicalABI.md#waitable-state
+[`TASK_CANCELLED`]: CanonicalABI.md#waitable-state
 [`Task`]: CanonicalABI.md#task-state
 [`Subtask`]: CanonicalABI.md#subtask-state
 [Stream State]: CanonicalABI.md#stream-state

design/mvp/Binary.md

@@ -291,9 +291,11 @@ canon    ::= 0x00 0x00 f:<core:funcidx> opts:<opts> ft:<typeidx> => (canon lift
            | 0x04 rt:<typeidx>                                   => (canon resource.rep rt (core func))
            | 0x08                                                => (canon backpressure.set (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x09 rs:<resultlist> opts:<opts>                    => (canon task.return rs opts (core func)) 🔀
+           | 0x05                                                => (canon task.cancel (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0a 0x7f i:<u32>                                   => (canon context.get i32 i (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0b 0x7f i:<u32>                                   => (canon context.set i32 i (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0c async?:<async>?                                => (canon yield async? (core func)) 🔀
+           | 0x06 async?:<async?>                                => (canon subtask.cancel async? (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0d                                                => (canon subtask.drop (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0e t:<typeidx>                                    => (canon stream.new t (core func)) 🔀
            | 0x0f t:<typeidx> opts:<opts>                        => (canon stream.read t opts (core func)) 🔀