Annex C (informative) Compatibility [diff]

C.1 C++ and ISO C [diff.iso]

C.1.9 Clause [special]: special member functions [diff.special]

[class.copy]
Change: Copying volatile objects.

The implicitly-declared copy constructor and implicitly-declared copy assignment operator cannot make a copy of a volatile lvalue. For example, the following is valid in ISO C:

struct X { int i; };
volatile struct X x1 = {0};
struct X x2 = x1;               // invalid C++
struct X x3;
x3 = x1;                        // also invalid C++


Rationale: Several alternatives were debated at length. Changing the parameter to volatile const X& would greatly complicate the generation of efficient code for class objects. Discussion of providing two alternative signatures for these implicitly-defined operations raised unanswered concerns about creating ambiguities and complicating the rules that specify the formation of these operators according to the bases and members.
Effect on original feature: Deletion of semantically well-defined feature.
Difficulty of converting: Semantic transformation. If volatile semantics are required for the copy, a user-declared constructor or assignment must be provided. If non-volatile semantics are required, an explicit const_­cast can be used.
How widely used: Seldom.