This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 115d. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.
2024-10-26
[Moved to DR at the April, 2013 meeting as part of paper N3638.]
auto and lambda return types use slightly different rules for determining the result type from an expression. auto uses the rules in 13.10.3.2 [temp.deduct.call], which explicitly drops top-level cv-qualification in all cases, while the lambda return type is based on the lvalue-to-rvalue conversion, which drops cv-qualification only for non-class types. As a result:
struct A { }; const A f(); auto a = f(); // decltype(a) is A auto b = []{ return f(); }; // decltype(b()) is const A
This seems like an unnecessary inconsistency.
John Spicer:
The difference is intentional; auto is intended only to give a const type if you explicitly ask for it, while the lambda return type should generally be the type of the expression.
Daniel Krügler:
Another inconsistency: with auto, use of a braced-init-list can deduce a specialization of std::initializer_list; it would be helpful if the same could be done for a lambda return type.
Additional note, February, 2014:
EWG noted that g++ and clang differ in their treatment of this example and referred it back to CWG for resolution.
Proposed resolution, November, 2014:
This issue was actually resolved by paper N3638, adopted at the April, 2013 meeting. It is returned to "review" status to allow consideration of whether the resolution should be considered a change for C++14 or a retroactive change to C++11.
Notes from the November, 2014 meeting:
CWG agreed that the change embodied in paper N3638 should be considered to have been a DR against C++11.