This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 114a. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.
2024-04-18
[Moved to DR at 4/02 meeting.]
Paragraphs 1 and 2 of 6.5.4 [basic.lookup.argdep] say, in part,
When an unqualified name is used as the postfix-expression in a function call (7.6.1.3 [expr.call] )... namespace-scope friend function declarations (11.8.4 [class.friend] ) not otherwise visible may be found... the set of declarations found by the lookup of the function name [includes] the set of declarations found in the... classes associated with the argument types.The most straightforward reading of this wording is that if a function of namespace scope (as opposed to a class member function) is declared as a friend in a class, and that class is an associated class in a function call, the friend function will be part of the overload set, even if it is not visible to normal lookup.
Consider the following example:
namespace A {
class S;
};
namespace B {
void f(A::S);
};
namespace A {
class S {
int i;
friend void B::f(S);
};
}
void g() {
A::S s;
f(s); // should find B::f(A::S)
}
This example would seem to satisfy the criteria from
6.5.4 [basic.lookup.argdep]
:
A::S is an associated class of the argument, and
A::S has a
friend declaration of the namespace-scope function
B::f(A::S),
so Koenig lookup should include B::f(A::S) as part of the
overload set in the call.
Another interpretation is that, instead of finding the friend declarations in associated classes, one only looks for namespace-scope functions, visible or invisible, in the namespaces of which the the associated classes are members; the only use of the friend declarations in the associated classes is to validate whether an invisible function declaration came from an associated class or not and thus whether it should be included in the overload set or not. By this interpretation, the call f(s) in the example will fail, because B::f(A::S) is not a member of namespace A and thus is not found by the lookup.
Notes from 10/99 meeting: The second interpretation is correct. The wording should be revised to make clear that Koenig lookup works by finding "invisible" declarations in namespace scope and not by finding friend declarations in associated classes.
Proposed resolution (04/01): The "associated classes" are handled adequately under this interpretation by 6.5.4 [basic.lookup.argdep] paragraph 3, which describes the lookup in the associated namespaces as including the friend declarations from the associated classes. Other mentions of the associated classes should be removed or qualified to avoid the impression that there is a lookup in those classes:
In 6.5.4 [basic.lookup.argdep], change
When an unqualified name is used as the postfix-expression in a function call (7.6.1.3 [expr.call]), other namespaces not considered during the usual unqualified lookup (6.5.3 [basic.lookup.unqual]) may be searched, and namespace-scope friend function declarations (11.8.4 [class.friend]) not otherwise visible may be found.
to
When an unqualified name is used as the postfix-expression in a function call (7.6.1.3 [expr.call]), other namespaces not considered during the usual unqualified lookup (6.5.3 [basic.lookup.unqual]) may be searched, and in those namespaces, namespace-scope friend function declarations (11.8.4 [class.friend]) not otherwise visible may be found.
In 6.5.4 [basic.lookup.argdep] paragraph 2, delete the words and classes in the following two sentences:
If the ordinary unqualified lookup of the name finds the declaration of a class member function, the associated namespacesand classesare not considered. Otherwise the set of declarations found by the lookup of the function name is the union of the set of declarations found using ordinary unqualified lookup and the set of declarations found in the namespacesand classesassociated with the argument types.
(See also issues 95, 136, 138, 139, 165, 166, and 218.)