Title
Simplifying alias rules
Status
cd5
Section
7.2.1 [basic.lval]
Submitter
Richard Smith

Created on 2014-12-03.00:00:00 last changed 25 months ago

Messages

Date: 2019-01-15.00:00:00

Proposed resolution (January, 2019):

  1. Change 7.2.1 [basic.lval] paragraph 11 as follows:

  2. If a program attempts to access the stored value of an object through a glvalue of other than whose type is not similar (7.3.6 [conv.qual]) to one of the following types the behavior is undefined:58

    • the dynamic type of the object,

    • a cv-qualified version of the dynamic type of the object,

    • a type similar (as defined in 7.3.6 [conv.qual]) to the dynamic type of the object,

    • a type that is the signed or unsigned type corresponding to the dynamic type of the object,

    • a type that is the signed or unsigned type corresponding to a cv-qualified version of the dynamic type of the object,

    • an aggregate or union type that includes one of the aforementioned types among its elements or non-static data members (including, recursively, an element or non-static data member of a subaggregate or contained union),

    • a type that is a (possibly cv-qualified) base class type of the dynamic type of the object,

    • a char, unsigned char, or std::byte type.

    If a program invokes a defaulted copy/move constructor or copy/move assignment operator for a union of type U with a glvalue argument that does not denote an object of type cv U within its lifetime, the behavior is undefined. [Note: Unlike in C, C++ has no accesses of class type. —end note]

  3. Change 7.3.6 [conv.qual] paragraph 1 as follows:

  4. A cv-decomposition of a type T is a sequence of cvi and Pi such that T is

      cv0 P0 ··· cvn-1 Pn-1 cvn U” for n > 0,

    where...

Date: 2022-02-18.07:47:23

Additional note, October, 2015:

It has been suggested that the aliasing rules should be extended to permit an object of an enumeration with a fixed underlying type to alias an object with that underlying type.

Date: 2022-02-18.07:47:23

Suggested resolution:

Replace 7.2.1 [basic.lval] paragraph 10 as follows:

If a program attempts to access the stored value of an object through a glvalue whose type is not similar (7.3.6 [conv.qual]) to one of the following types the behavior is undefined: [Footnote:... —end footnote]

  • the dynamic type of the object,

  • the signed or unsigned type corresponding to the dynamic type of the object, or

  • a char or unsigned char type.

Date: 2019-02-15.00:00:00

[Accepted as a DR at the February, 2019 meeting.]

The aliasing rules of 7.2.1 [basic.lval] paragraph 10 were adapted from C with additions for C++. However, a number of the points either do not apply or are subsumed by other points. For example, the provision for aggregate and union types is needed in C for struct assignment, which in C++ is done via constructors and assignment operators in C++, not by accessing the complete object.

History
Date User Action Args
2022-02-18 07:47:23adminsetmessages: + msg6710
2020-12-15 00:00:00adminsetmessages: + msg6370
2020-12-15 00:00:00adminsetstatus: drafting -> cd5
2015-11-10 00:00:00adminsetmessages: + msg5640
2014-12-03 00:00:00admincreate