Proposed resolution:

[vector]

Update the class definition in p2:

// 23.3.6.3 data access
pointerT * data();
const_pointerconst T * data() const;

[vector.data]

Adjust signatures:

pointerT * data();
const_pointerconst T * data() const;

[ 2010-02-10 Moved to Tentatively Ready after 5 positive votes on c++std-lib. ]

The original intent of vector::data was to match array::data in providing a simple API with direct access to the contiguous buffer of elements that could be passed to a "classic" C API. At some point, the return type became the 'pointer' typedef, which is not derived from the allocator via allocator traits - it is no longer specified to precisely T *. The return type of this function should be corrected to no longer use the typedef.