Note that type aliases cannot be recursive

compiler/rustc_query_system/src/query/job.rs

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use crate::dep_graph::DepContext;
 use crate::query::plumbing::CycleError;
-use crate::query::{QueryContext, QueryStackFrame};
+use crate::query::{QueryContext, QueryStackFrame, SimpleDefKind};
 
 use rustc_data_structures::fx::FxHashMap;
 use rustc_errors::{struct_span_err, Diagnostic, DiagnosticBuilder, Handler, Level};
@@ -600,6 +600,18 @@ pub(crate) fn report_cycle<'a>(
         ));
     }
 
+    if !stack.is_empty()
+        && stack.iter().all(|entry| {
+            entry.query.def_kind.map_or(false, |def_kind| {
+                matches!(def_kind, SimpleDefKind::TyAlias | SimpleDefKind::TraitAlias)
+            })
+        })
+    {
+        err.note("type aliases cannot be recursive");
+        err.help("consider using a struct, enum, or union instead to break the cycle");
+        err.help("see <https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/types.html#recursive-types> for more information");
+    }
+
     if let Some((span, query)) = usage {
         err.span_note(fix_span(span, &query), &format!("cycle used when {}", query.description));
     }

compiler/rustc_query_system/src/query/mod.rs

@@ -29,24 +29,53 @@ pub struct QueryStackFrame {
     pub name: &'static str,
     pub description: String,
     span: Option<Span>,
+    /// The `DefKind` this query frame is associated with, if applicable.
+    ///
+    /// We can't use `rustc_hir::def::DefKind` because `rustc_hir` is not
+    /// available in `rustc_query_system`. Instead, we have a simplified
+    /// custom version of it, called [`SimpleDefKind`].
+    def_kind: Option<SimpleDefKind>,
     /// This hash is used to deterministically pick
     /// a query to remove cycles in the parallel compiler.
     #[cfg(parallel_compiler)]
     hash: u64,
 }
 
+/// A simplified version of `rustc_hir::def::DefKind`.
+///
+/// It was added to help improve cycle errors caused by recursive type aliases.
+/// As of August 2021, `rustc_query_system` cannot depend on `rustc_hir`
+/// because it would create a dependency cycle. So, instead, a simplified
+/// version of `DefKind` was added to `rustc_query_system`.
+///
+/// `DefKind`s are converted to `SimpleDefKind`s in `rustc_query_impl`.
+#[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone)]
+pub enum SimpleDefKind {
+    Struct,
+    Enum,
+    Union,
+    Trait,
+    TyAlias,
+    TraitAlias,
+
+    // FIXME: add more from `rustc_hir::def::DefKind` and then remove `Other`
+    Other,
+}
+
 impl QueryStackFrame {
     #[inline]
     pub fn new(
         name: &'static str,
         description: String,
         span: Option<Span>,
+        def_kind: Option<SimpleDefKind>,
         _hash: impl FnOnce() -> u64,
     ) -> Self {
         Self {
             name,
             description,
             span,
+            def_kind,
             #[cfg(parallel_compiler)]
             hash: _hash(),
         }