I'm attempting to build a bit of simple logging functionality from scratch, with a stream like '<<' interface, and am running into a bit of compiler issue. Here is the basics of my code:
#include <string.h>
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>
class Logger
{
public:
class Buffer
{
public:
Buffer(Logger &parent) : mPar(parent)
{
}
~Buffer(void)
{
mPar.endline(os);
}
template<class T>
Buffer& operator<<(const T& x)
{
os << x;
return *this;
}
Logger& mPar;
std::ostringstream os;
};
Buffer write(void)
{
return Buffer(*this);
}
void endline(std::ostringstream& os)
{
std::cout << os.str() << std::endl;
}
};
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
Logger log;
log.write() << "fred" << 3 << "bob";
}
The errors I'm getting are:
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.6/ios:45:0,
from /usr/include/c++/4.6/istream:40,
from /usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream:39,
from test.cpp:2:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/bits/ios_base.h: In copy constructor ‘std::basic_ios<char>::basic_ios(const std::basic_ios<char>&)’:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/bits/ios_base.h:788:5: error: ‘std::ios_base::ios_base(const std::ios_base&)’ is private
/usr/include/c++/4.6/bits/basic_ios.h:64:11: error: within this context
In file included from test.cpp:2:0:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream: In copy constructor ‘std::basic_ostringstream<char>::basic_ostringstream(const std::basic_ostringstream<char>&)’:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream:373:11: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ios<char>::basic_ios(const std::basic_ios<char>&)’ first required here
/usr/include/c++/4.6/streambuf: In copy constructor ‘std::basic_stringbuf<char>::basic_stringbuf(const std::basic_stringbuf<char>&)’:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/streambuf:782:7: error: ‘std::basic_streambuf<_CharT, _Traits>::basic_streambuf(const __streambuf_type&) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>, std::basic_streambuf<_CharT, _Traits>::__streambuf_type = std::basic_streambuf<char>]’ is private
/usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream:60:11: error: within this context
/usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream: In copy constructor ‘std::basic_ostringstream<char>::basic_ostringstream(const std::basic_ostringstream<char>&)’:
/usr/include/c++/4.6/sstream:373:11: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_stringbuf<char>::basic_stringbuf(const std::basic_stringbuf<char>&)’ first required here
test.cpp: In copy constructor ‘Logger::Buffer::Buffer(const Logger::Buffer&)’:
test.cpp:8:8: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ostringstream<char>::basic_ostringstream(const std::basic_ostringstream<char>&)’ first required here
test.cpp: In member function ‘Logger::Buffer Logger::write()’:
test.cpp:33:22: note: synthesized method ‘Logger::Buffer::Buffer(const Logger::Buffer&)’ first required here
From what I've been able to find so far, the errors are because you can't call the copy constructor on ostringstream. As far as I can tell though, I'm not calling a copy constructor directly, and I'm not copying Buffer, only constructing it in the 'return' statement.
The other interesting thing is that this code compiles fine under Visual Studio 2010 where I knocked it up before integrating it into my application (which is compiled using GCC 4.6.3).
Have I interpreted the issue correctly, and if so - where is the implicit copy, and how do eliminate it?