[Voted into WP at March 2004 meeting.]

Proposed Resolution (October 2003):

Change the second bullet of 7.6.1.5 [expr.ref] paragraph 4 to read:

If E1 is an lvalue, then E1.E2 is an lvalue; otherwise, it is an rvalue.

Notes from October 2003 meeting:

We agree the reference should be an rvalue, and a change along the lines of that recommended by Mike Miller is reasonable.

Consider

  typedef
    struct {
      int a;
    } A;

  A f(void)
  {
    A a;
    return a;
  }

  int main(void)
  {
    int* p = &f().a;   // #1
  }

Should #1 be rejected? The standard is currently silent.

Mike Miller: I don't believe the Standard is silent on this. I will agree that the wording of 7.6.1.5 [expr.ref] bullet 4.2 is unfortunate, as it is subject to misinterpretation. It reads,

If E1 is an lvalue, then E1.E2 is an lvalue.