The only user-facing change is handling non-integer (and zero) `RUST_THREADS` more nicely:
```
$ RUST_THREADS=x rustc # old
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?
fatal runtime error: runtime tls key not initialized
Aborted
$ RUST_THREADS=x ./x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage2/bin/rustc # new
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?
fatal runtime error: `RUST_THREADS` is `x`, should be a positive integer
Aborted
```
The other changes are converting some `for .. in range(x,y)` to `vec::from_fn` or `for .. in x.iter()` as appropriate; and removing a chain of (seemingly) unnecessary pointer casts.
(Also, fixes a typo in `extra::test` from #8823.)
72bf895629