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

291. Overload resolution needed when binding reference to class rvalue

Section: 9.4.4  [dcl.init.ref]     Status: CD1     Submitter: Andrei Iltchenko     Date: 15 Jun 2001

[Voted into WP at October 2005 meeting.]

There is a place in the Standard where overload resolution is implied but the way that a set of candidate functions is to be formed is omitted. See below.

According to the Standard, when initializing a reference to a non-volatile const class type (cv1 T1) with an rvalue expression (cv2 T2) where cv1 T1 is reference compatible with cv2 T2, the implementation shall proceed in one of the following ways (except when initializing the implicit object parameter of a copy constructor) 9.4.4 [dcl.init.ref] bullet 5.2 sub-bullet 1:

While the first case is quite obvious, the second one is a bit unclear as it says "a constructor is called to copy the entire rvalue object into the temporary" without specifying how the temporary is created -- by direct-initialization or by copy-initialization? As stated in DR 152, this can make a difference when the copy constructor is declared as explicit. How should the set of candidate functions be formed? The most appropriate guess is that it shall proceed as per 12.2.2.4 [over.match.ctor].

Another detail worth of note is that in the draft version of the Standard as of 2 December 1996 the second bullet read:

J. Stephen Adamczyk replied that the reason for changing "a copy constructor" to "a constructor" was to allow for member template converting constructors.

However, the new wording is somewhat in conflict with the footnote #93 that says that when initializing the implicit object parameter of a copy constructor an implementation must eventually choose the first alternative (binding without copying) to avoid infinite recursion. This seems to suggest that a copy constructor is always used for initializing the temporary of type "cv1 T2".

Furthermore, now that the set of candidate functions is not limited to only the copy constructors of T2, there might be some unpleasant consequences. Consider a rather contrived sample below:

    int   * pi = ::new(std::nothrow) int;
    const std::auto_ptr<int>   & ri = std::auto_ptr<int>(pi);

In this example the initialization of the temporary of type '<TT>const std::auto_ptr<int>' (to which 'ri' is meant to be subsequently bound) doesn't fail, as it would had the approach with copy constructors been retained, instead, a yet another temporary gets created as the well-known sequence:

    std::auto_ptr<int>::operator std::auto_ptr_ref<int>()
    std::auto_ptr<int>(std::auto_ptr_ref<int>)

is called (assuming, of course, that the set of candidate functions is formed as per 12.2.2.4 [over.match.ctor]). The second temporary is transient and gets destroyed at the end of the initialization. I doubt that this is the way that the committee wanted this kind of reference binding to go.

Besides, even if the approach restricting the set of candidates to copy constructors is restored, it is still not clear how the initialization of the temporary (to which the reference is intended to be bound) is to be performed -- using direct-initialization or copy-initialization.

Another place in the Standard that would benefit from a similar clarification is the creation of an exception object, which is delineated in 14.2 [except.throw].

David Abrahams (February 2004): It appears, looking at core 291, that there may be a need to tighten up 9.4.4 [dcl.init.ref]/5.

Please see the attached example file, which demonstrates "move semantics" in C++98. Many compilers fail to compile test 10 because of the way 8.5.3/5 is interpreted. My problem with that interpretation is that test 20: 

    typedef X const XC;
    sink2(XC(X()));
does compile. In other words, it *is* possible to construct the const temporary from the rvalue. IMO, that is the proper test.

8.5.3/5 doesn't demand that a "copy constructor" is used to copy the temporary, only that a constructor is used "to copy the temporary". I hope that when the language is tightened up to specify direct (or copy initialization), that it also unambiguously allows the enclosed test to compile. Not only is it, I believe, within the scope of reasonable interpretation of the current standard, but it's an incredibly important piece of functionality for library writers and users alike.

#include <iostream>
#include <cassert>

template <class T, class X>
struct enable_if_same
{
};

template <class X>
struct enable_if_same<X, X>
{
    typedef char type;
};

struct X
{
    static int cnt;  // count the number of Xs

    X()
      : id(++cnt)
      , owner(true)
    {
        std::cout << "X() #" << id << std::endl;
    }

    // non-const lvalue - copy ctor
    X(X& rhs)
      : id(++cnt)
      , owner(true)
    {
        std::cout << "copy #" << id << " <- #" << rhs.id << std::endl;
    }

    // const lvalue - T will be deduced as X const
    template <class T>
    X(T& rhs, typename enable_if_same<X const,T>::type = 0)
      : id(++cnt)
      , owner(true)
    {
        std::cout << "copy #" << id << " <- #" << rhs.id << " (const)" << std::endl;
    }

    ~X()
    {
        std::cout << "destroy #" << id << (owner?"":" (EMPTY)") << std::endl;
    }

 private:    // Move stuff
    struct ref { ref(X*p) : p(p) {} X* p; };

 public:    // Move stuff
    operator ref() {
        return ref(this);
    }

    // non-const rvalue
    X(ref rhs)
      : id(++cnt)
      , owner(rhs.p->owner)
    {
        std::cout << "MOVE #" << id << " <== #" << rhs.p->id << std::endl;
        rhs.p->owner = false;
        assert(owner);
    }

 private:   // Data members
    int id;
    bool owner;
};

int X::cnt;


X source()
{
    return X();
}

X const csource()
{
    return X();
}

void sink(X)
{
    std::cout << "in rvalue sink" << std::endl;
}

void sink2(X&)
{
    std::cout << "in non-const lvalue sink2" << std::endl;
}

void sink2(X const&)
{
    std::cout << "in const lvalue sink2" << std::endl;
}

void sink3(X&)
{
    std::cout << "in non-const lvalue sink3" << std::endl;
}

template <class T>
void tsink(T)
{
    std::cout << "in templated rvalue sink" << std::endl;
}

int main()
{
    std::cout << " ------ test 1, direct init from rvalue ------- " << std::endl;
#ifdef __GNUC__ // GCC having trouble parsing the extra parens
    X z2((0, X() ));
#else
    X z2((X()));
#endif

    std::cout << " ------ test 2, copy init from rvalue ------- " << std::endl;
    X z4 = X();

    std::cout << " ------ test 3, copy init from lvalue ------- " << std::endl;
    X z5 = z4;

    std::cout << " ------ test 4, direct init from lvalue ------- " << std::endl;
    X z6(z4);

    std::cout << " ------ test 5, construct const ------- " << std::endl;
    X const z7;

    std::cout << " ------ test 6, copy init from lvalue ------- " << std::endl;
    X z8 = z7;

    std::cout << " ------ test 7, direct init from lvalue ------- " << std::endl;
    X z9(z7);

    std::cout << " ------ test 8, pass rvalue by-value ------- " << std::endl;
    sink(source());

    std::cout << " ------ test 9, pass const rvalue by-value ------- " << std::endl;
    sink(csource());

    std::cout << " ------ test 10, pass rvalue by overloaded reference ------- " << std::endl;
    // This one fails in Comeau's strict mode due to 8.5.3/5.  GCC 3.3.1 passes it.
    sink2(source());

    std::cout << " ------ test 11, pass const rvalue by overloaded reference ------- " << std::endl;
    sink2(csource());

#if 0    // These two correctly fail to compile, just as desired
    std::cout << " ------ test 12, pass rvalue by non-const reference ------- " << std::endl;
    sink3(source());

    std::cout << " ------ test 13, pass const rvalue by non-const reference ------- " << std::endl;
    sink3(csource());
#endif

    std::cout << " ------ test 14, pass lvalue by-value ------- " << std::endl;
    sink(z5);

    std::cout << " ------ test 15, pass const lvalue by-value ------- " << std::endl;
    sink(z7);

    std::cout << " ------ test 16, pass lvalue by-reference ------- " << std::endl;
    sink2(z4);

    std::cout << " ------ test 17, pass const lvalue by const reference ------- " << std::endl;
    sink2(z7);

    std::cout << " ------ test 18, pass const lvalue by-reference ------- " << std::endl;
#if 0   // correctly fails to compile, just as desired
    sink3(z7);
#endif

    std::cout << " ------ test 19, pass rvalue by value to template param ------- " << std::endl;
    tsink(source());

    std::cout << " ------ test 20, direct initialize a const A with an A ------- " << std::endl;
    typedef X const XC;
    sink2(XC(X()));
}

Proposed Resolution:

(As proposed by N1610 section 5, with editing.)

Change 8.5.3 [stmt.switch] paragraph 5, second bullet, first sub-bullet, second sub-sub-bullet as follows:

A temporary of type "cv1 T2" [sic] is created, and a constructor is called to copy the entire rvalue object into the temporary via copy-initialization from the entire rvalue object. The reference is bound to the temporary or to a sub-object within the temporary.

The text immediately following that is changed as follows:

The constructor that would be used to make the copy shall be callable whether or not the copy is actually done. The constructor and any conversion function that would be used in the initialization shall be callable whether or not the temporary is actually created.

Note, however, that the way the core working group is leaning on issue 391 (i.e., requiring direct binding) would make this change unnecessary.

Proposed resolution (April, 2005):

This issue is resolved by the resolution of issue 391.