Add an RFC for PortLike.with_direction.

text/0079-port-with-direction.md

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+- Start Date: 2025-06-02
+- RFC PR: [amaranth-lang/rfcs#79](https://github.com/amaranth-lang/rfcs/pull/79)
+- Amaranth Issue: [amaranth-lang/amaranth#0000](https://github.com/amaranth-lang/amaranth/issues/0000)
+
+# Add `PortLike.with_direction`
+
+## Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Add a `with_direction` method to `lib.io.PortLike`, allowing for "downcasting" a bidirectional port to an input port or an output port.
+
+## Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+[RFC 55](https://amaranth-lang.org/rfcs/0055-lib-io.html) has made way for a variety of generic and reusable I/O components.  Many such components can be parametrized by the "signature" of I/O ports used, including their directionality.  One such motivating example is Glasgow's `IOStreamer`.
+
+It is often convenient to treat a bidirectional port as an input-only port, or an output-only port.  `lib.io` already allows such usage by instantiating a `*Buffer` with a requested direction.  However, for generic components, it's oftern convenient to determine requested buffer direction by introspecting the provided port — in such case, we need some means to explicitly "downcast" the port before providing it to the component.
+
+## Guide-level explanation
+[guide-level-explanation]: #guide-level-explanation
+
+Given a `PortLike` with a direction of `Direction.Bidir`, you can use the `with_direction` method to obtain an input-only or output-only version of it:
+
+```
+port_io = platform.request("io0", dir="-")
+assert port_io.direction == Direction.Bidir
+port_i = port_io.with_direction("i")
+assert port_i.direction == Direction.Input
+```
+
+## Reference-level explanation
+[reference-level-explanation]: #reference-level-explanation
+
+A new method is added to `PortLike` and its implementations:
+
+- `with_direction(self, direction: Direction) -> PortLike`: returns a new `PortLike` equivalent to this one, but with a limitted direction
+  - if the `direction` provided is the same as the port's direction, the returned `PortLike` is fully equivalent to `self`
+  - if the `direction` is `Direction.Input` or `Direction.Output` and `self.direction is Direction.Bidir`, the returned `PortLike` has the given direction
+  - any other combination of `direction` and `self.direction` is an error
+
+## Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+This adds a new required method to implement on a `PortLike`, and is thus a breaking change for users implementing their own `PortLike`s.
+
+## Rationale and alternatives
+[rationale-and-alternatives]: #rationale-and-alternatives
+
+The only obvious alternative to this RFC is providing the information to the generic component out-of-band.  However, this is inconvenient, particularly when groups of ports are involved.
+
+We can have the usual bikeshedding about the name.
+
+## Prior art
+[prior-art]: #prior-art
+
+Most languages allow using an `inout` as an `input` or `output`.
+
+## Unresolved questions
+[unresolved-questions]: #unresolved-questions
+
+None.
+
+## Future possibilities
+[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
+
+None.