Обсуждение: Make copyObject work in C++
Calling copyObject fails in C++ with an error like in most setups: error: use of undeclared identifier 'typeof'; did you mean 'typeid' This is due to the C compiler supporting used to compile postgres supporting typeof, but that function actually not being present in the C++ compiler. This fixes that by using decltype instead of typeof when including the header in C++. Realized because of Thomas' not about how much of our headers should work in C++, and remembering I hit this specific problem myself. Another approach would be to force the value of HAVE_TYPEOF to 0 if __cplusplus.
Вложения
Jelte Fennema-Nio <postgres@jeltef.nl> writes:
> Calling copyObject fails in C++ with an error like in most setups:
> error: use of undeclared identifier 'typeof'; did you mean 'typeid'
> This is due to the C compiler supporting used to compile postgres
> supporting typeof, but that function actually not being present in the
> C++ compiler. This fixes that by using decltype instead of typeof when
> including the header in C++.
Hmm, this only fixes the one use-case. Admittedly we have only one
use-case, but as soon as we have another we'll have a new problem.
How about instead modifying the macro? Maybe something like this
in c.h (untested):
#ifdef __cplusplus
#undef typeof
#define typeof decltype
#define HAVE_TYPEOF 1
#endif
> Another approach would be to force the value of HAVE_TYPEOF to 0 if __cplusplus.
That would be sad, because we'd lose the type checking ability
of copyObject() in C++ code.
BTW, grepping finds a number of random references to __typeof__ and
__typeof, which probably ought to be updated to be just typeof.
regards, tom lane
On 05.12.25 15:46, Jelte Fennema-Nio wrote: > Calling copyObject fails in C++ with an error like in most setups: > > error: use of undeclared identifier 'typeof'; did you mean 'typeid' > > This is due to the C compiler supporting used to compile postgres > supporting typeof, but that function actually not being present in the > C++ compiler. This fixes that by using decltype instead of typeof when > including the header in C++. > > Realized because of Thomas' not about how much of our headers should > work in C++, and remembering I hit this specific problem myself. > > Another approach would be to force the value of HAVE_TYPEOF to 0 if __cplusplus. In the long run, I would like to change copyObject() to use typeof_unqual instead, because that handles qualifiers more correctly. (Currently, copyObject() of a const-qualified pointer results in a const-qualified pointer, which is nonsensical because the reason you made the copy is that you can modify it.) See attached patch for an example. Does C++ have something that is semantically similar to that?
Вложения
On 07.12.25 20:45, Tom Lane wrote: > Hmm, this only fixes the one use-case. Admittedly we have only one > use-case, but as soon as we have another we'll have a new problem. > How about instead modifying the macro? Maybe something like this > in c.h (untested): > > #ifdef __cplusplus > #undef typeof > #define typeof decltype > #define HAVE_TYPEOF 1 > #endif AFAICT, both gcc and clang support typeof in C++ mode as well. So this kind of renaming could be confusing.
On Sun Dec 7, 2025 at 8:45 PM CET, Tom Lane wrote: > #ifdef __cplusplus > #undef typeof > #define typeof decltype > #define HAVE_TYPEOF 1 > #endif Went with defining pg_exprtype (pg_typeof already exists). Undefining typeof seemed a bit heavy-handed. Especially since I think it would be nice to backport this so C++ extensions can use copyObject directly. > BTW, grepping finds a number of random references to __typeof__ and > __typeof, which probably ought to be updated to be just typeof. Added a follow on patch that starts using pg_exrtype in all those places.
Вложения
On 08.12.2025 08:57, Peter Eisentraut wrote: > On 05.12.25 15:46, Jelte Fennema-Nio wrote: >> Calling copyObject fails in C++ with an error like in most setups: >> >> error: use of undeclared identifier 'typeof'; did you mean 'typeid' >> >> This is due to the C compiler supporting used to compile postgres >> supporting typeof, but that function actually not being present in the >> C++ compiler. This fixes that by using decltype instead of typeof when >> including the header in C++. >> >> Realized because of Thomas' not about how much of our headers should >> work in C++, and remembering I hit this specific problem myself. >> >> Another approach would be to force the value of HAVE_TYPEOF to 0 if >> __cplusplus. > > In the long run, I would like to change copyObject() to use > typeof_unqual instead, because that handles qualifiers more correctly. > (Currently, copyObject() of a const-qualified pointer results in a > const-qualified pointer, which is nonsensical because the reason you > made the copy is that you can modify it.) See attached patch for an > example. Does C++ have something that is semantically similar to that? Since C++11 there's std::remove_const which can be used as std::remove_const<decltype(type)>::type. I'm not aware of anything pre C++11, except for rolling your own variant of std::remove_const via template specialization. -- David Geier
On Mon, 8 Dec 2025 at 09:33, David Geier <geidav.pg@gmail.com> wrote: > Since C++11 there's std::remove_const which can be used as > std::remove_const<decltype(type)>::type. > > I'm not aware of anything pre C++11, except for rolling your own variant > of std::remove_const via template specialization. I think depending on C++11 sounds fine, since we're also depending on C11 and people tend to use much more recent C++ versions than C versions (so probably we could even require something higher).
Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org> writes:
> AFAICT, both gcc and clang support typeof in C++ mode as well. So this
> kind of renaming could be confusing.
Hm, if that's true then we should not have to do anything ...
so why is Jelte reporting a problem?
regards, tom lane
On Mon, 8 Dec 2025 at 15:51, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote: > > Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org> writes: > > AFAICT, both gcc and clang support typeof in C++ mode as well. So this > > kind of renaming could be confusing. > > Hm, if that's true then we should not have to do anything ... > so why is Jelte reporting a problem? Seems it's related to -std=c++17 vs -std=gnu++17. I was compiling my code with the former, which throws the error in question[1]. Compiling with the latter works fine[2]. So I guess it depends what we want to require from C++ extensions. Should we require them to compile with gnu extensions? My opinion on that would be no. [1]: https://godbolt.org/z/fz567hs1r [2]: https://godbolt.org/z/cq1se55bn
On Mon, 8 Dec 2025 at 08:57, Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org> wrote: > In the long run, I would like to change copyObject() to use > typeof_unqual instead, because that handles qualifiers more correctly. > (Currently, copyObject() of a const-qualified pointer results in a > const-qualified pointer, which is nonsensical because the reason you > made the copy is that you can modify it.) See attached patch for an > example. Does C++ have something that is semantically similar to that? Yes, there's a std::remove_cv, std::remove_const, and std::remove_volatile[1]. [1]: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/types/remove_cv.html
On Mon Dec 8, 2025 at 9:11 AM CET, Jelte Fennema-Nio wrote: > Went with defining pg_exprtype (pg_typeof already exists). Undefining > typeof seemed a bit heavy-handed. Especially since I think it would be > nice to backport this so C++ extensions can use copyObject directly. Rebased version of this patchset after conflicts from 315342ffed.
Вложения
On 05.12.25 15:46, Jelte Fennema-Nio wrote: > Calling copyObject fails in C++ with an error like in most setups: > > error: use of undeclared identifier 'typeof'; did you mean 'typeid' > > This is due to the C compiler supporting used to compile postgres > supporting typeof, but that function actually not being present in the > C++ compiler. This fixes that by using decltype instead of typeof when > including the header in C++. > > Realized because of Thomas' not about how much of our headers should > work in C++, and remembering I hit this specific problem myself. I think it might be good to create a test extension written in C++, like under src/test/modules/, and sprinkle it with various constructs like copyObject() and static assertions, and whatever else we find that is possibly problematic. Then patches like this one would be much easier to analyze and test and keep working in the future. This would probably require resolving <https://commitfest.postgresql.org/patch/5885/> first.