g++ choosing wrong cast

[D. Bernstein]

To Whom it May Concern,

In using g++ from egcs-1.0.1, I have the following class:

class MSLString
{
  private:

    operator char *() const ;
    ...

  public:

    operator const char *() const ;
    ...
} ;

when I make a call involving a const char *, e.g. system call
strlen(const char *s), The compiler chooses the WRONG cast,

    extern size_t strlen(const char *) ;
    MSLString s ;

    if (strlen(s) > 0) ...

I get a compiler error about "operator char *() is private within this context".

-- 
Daniel J. Bernstein
Partner, Computer Science Services Group, LLC

E: dan@cssgroup.com
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