This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 116a. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.
2024-12-19
[Moved to DR at the October, 2015 meeting.]
According to 13.10.2 [temp.arg.explicit] paragraph 6,
Implicit conversions (7.3 [conv]) will be performed on a function argument to convert it to the type of the corresponding function parameter if the parameter type contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction. [Note: Template parameters do not participate in template argument deduction if they are explicitly specified...
But this isn't clear about when these conversions are done. Consider
template<class T> struct A {
typename T::N n;
};
template<class T> struct B { };
template<class T, class T2>
void foo(const A<T>& r); // #1
template<class T>
void foo(const B<T>& r); // #2
void baz() {
B<char> b;
foo(b); // OK
foo<char>(b); // error
}
With the explicit template argument, the first parameter of #1 no longer participates in template argument deduction, so implicit conversions are done. If we check for the implicit conversion during the deduction process, we end up instantiating A<char>, resulting in a hard error. If we wait until later to check the conversion, we can reject #1 because T2 is not deduced and never need to consider the conversion.
But if we just accept the parameter and leave it up to normal overload resolution to reject an unsuitable candidate, that breaks this testcase:
template<class T>
struct A {
typename T::N n;
};
template<class T>
struct B { };
template <class T, class... U>
typename A<T>::value_t bar(int, T, U...);
template <class T>
T bar(T, T);
void baz()
{
B<char> b;
bar(b, b);
}
Here, if deduction succeeds, we substitute in the deduced arguments of T = B<char>, U = { }, and end up instantiating A<B<char>>, which fails.
EDG and GCC currently reject the first testcase and accept the second; clang accepts both.
Notes from the October, 2012 meeting:
The position initially favored by CWG was that implicit conversions are not considered during deduction but are only applied afterwards, so the second example is ill-formed, and that the normative wording of the referenced paragraph should be moved into the note. This approach does not handle some examples currently accepted by some implementations, however; for example:
template <class T> struct Z {
typedef T::x xx;
};
template <class T> Z<T>::xx f(void *, T);
template <class T> void f(int, T);
struct A {} a;
int main() {
f(1, a); // If the implementation rules out the first overload
// because of the invalid conversion from int to void*,
// the error instantiating Z<A> will be avoided
}
Additional discussion is required.
Notes from the April, 2013 meeting:
The approach needed to accept this code appears to be doing the convertibility check between deduction and substitution.
Proposed resolution (May, 2015):
Change 13.10.3.2 [temp.deduct.call] paragraph 1 as follows:
Template argument deduction is done by comparing each function template parameter type (call it P) that contains template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction with the type of the corresponding argument of the call (call it A) as described below. IfP is a dependent type,removing references and cv-qualifiers from P gives std::initializer_list<P'> or P'[N] for some P' and N and the argument is a non-empty initializer list (9.4.5 [dcl.init.list]), then deduction is performed instead for each element of the initializer list, taking P' as a function template parameter type and the initializer element as its argument, and in the P'[N] case, if N is a non-type template parameter, N is deduced from the length of the initializer list. Otherwise, an initializer list argument causes the parameter to be considered a non-deduced context (13.10.3.6 [temp.deduct.type]). [Example:...
Delete the note in 13.10.3.2 [temp.deduct.call] paragraph 4:
[Note: as specified in 13.10.2 [temp.arg.explicit], implicit conversions will be performed on a function argument to convert it to the type of the corresponding function parameter if the parameter contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction. Such conversions are also allowed, in addition to the ones described in the preceding list. —end note]
Add the following as a new paragraph at the end of 13.10.3.2 [temp.deduct.call]:
If deduction succeeds for all parameters that contain template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction, and all template arguments are explicitly specified, deduced, or obtained from default template arguments, remaining parameters are then compared with the corresponding arguments. For each remaining parameter P with a type that was non-dependent before substitution of any explicitly-specified template arguments, if the corresponding argument A cannot be implicitly converted to P, deduction fails. [Note: Parameters with dependent types in which no template-parameters participate in template argument deduction, and parameters that became non-dependent due to substitution of explicitly-specified template arguments, will be checked during overload resolution. —end note] [Example:
template <class T> struct Z { typedef typename T::x xx; }; template <class T> typename Z<T>::xx f(void *, T); // #1 template <class T> void f(int, T); // #2 struct A {} a; int main() { f(1, a); // OK, deduction fails for #1 because there is no conversion from int to void* }—end example]
Change 13.10.3.5 [temp.deduct.partial] paragraph 4 as follows:
Each type nominated above from the parameter template and the corresponding type from the argument template are used as the types of P and A. If a particular P contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction, that P is not used to determine the ordering.
Change 13.10.3.6 [temp.deduct.type] paragraph 4 as follows:
In most cases, the types, templates, and non-type values that are used to compose P participate in template argument deduction. That is, they may be used to determine the value of a template argument, and the value so determined must be consistent with the values determined elsewhere. In certain contexts, however, the value does not participate in type deduction, but instead uses the values of template arguments that were either deduced elsewhere or explicitly specified. If a template parameter is used only in non-deduced contexts and is not explicitly specified, template argument deduction fails. [Note: Under 13.10.3.2 [temp.deduct.call] and 13.10.3.5 [temp.deduct.partial], if P contains no template-parameters that appear in deduced contexts, no deduction is done, and so P and A need not have the same form. —end note]
This resolution also resolves issue 1847.
Additional note October, 2015:
See also issue 1939.