[cfe-dev] Merging a class template specialization from two module imports

[James Widman]

Hello,

I was just reading:

http://clang.llvm.org/docs/PCHInternals.html

… and was looking for further discussion on the handling of a class template specialization type in a case like this:

module A defines class template A, but does not use the specialization type A<int>.
B imports A and declares “void x(A<int>);"
C imports A and declares “A<int> y(int);"
D imports B, then uses x, then imports C, then uses y.

And, in D:

	-  before the first use of x, the program does not require the existence of the type A<int>.

	-  before the first use of y, the program does not require the existence of the type “function of (int) returning A<int>”.

So presumably, when B’s type block is read to simulate the forward-declaration of x at the use of x in D, the front end can use B’s types block entries as they are.

Now, when D uses y…

The section on declaration merging in PCHInternals seems to suggest that the front end cannot just use C’s type block directly when simulating y’s forward-declaration in D; instead, it has to do a deep copy of the canonical type, except that C’s info about A<int> is replaced by B’s.

Is that what actually happens, or is something else going on?

Also: are there cases where this kind of type-merging is known to be expensive?

Are there any documents that talk about alternative approaches, and are there any potentially-interesting approaches that haven’t been implemented yet?

Does the index file (“modules.idx”) play any significant role in this?

James Widman  
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