Re: c++/9881: Incorrect address calculation for static class member

["Peter A. Buhr" <pabuhr at plg2 dot math dot uwaterloo dot ca>]

   Synopsis: Incorrect address calculation for static class member

   State-Changed-From-To: open->closed
   State-Changed-By: bangerth
   State-Changed-When: Thu Feb 27 18:22:41 2003
   State-Changed-Why:
       In this code,
	 foo f; // print output

	 double *module::b = &(((bar *)&module::storage)->p);
	 double module::storage = 0.0;

       The constructor of foo is run before module::b is initialized.
       If you change this order, the output is as you expect.

       W.

   http://gcc.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?cmd=view%20audit-trail&database=gcc&pr=9881

Your response is incorrect. First, the program generates the correct result
with gcc3.2. If you run the example with both gcc3.2 and gcc3.3, you will see
that the output is different. Hence, one can conclude that either gcc3.2 or
gcc3.3 is wrong. Second, when the example program is run with the SUN compiler,
it generates the same output as for gcc3.2, indicating that the problem is
probably in gcc3.3. Third, the position of the constructor has nothing to do
with the assignment to a static variable. The expression to initialize the
static variable "module::b" *MUST* be evaluated at compiler time. All static
variables *MUST* be initialized before any constructor is run because a
constructor can refer to these variables. Finally, your suggestion is not even
a work-around, because the original problem occurred in separate compilation
units, so the notion of moving the constructor in this case does not apply.

It is slightly disconcerting that you should close this bug report without at
least checking with the people that reported the problem.