On Sat, Apr 18, 2020 at 12:02 AM Andrew Schepler <aschepler_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> That seems mostly right, but a few things still sounded off to me. So I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or disagreeing, reading something a way it wasn't met, etc., but:
>
> Recapping the labels from previous messages:
>
> (Sentence-X):
> "Before the lifetime of an object has started but after the storage which the object will occupy has been allocated or, after the lifetime of an object has ended and before the storage which the object occupied is reused or released, any pointer"
> (Condition-1):
> "that represents the address of the storage location where the object will be or was located"
> "may be used but only in limited ways."

This approach will work on the condition that "before the storage
which the object occupied is reused" is interpreted as reused _only_
through the original pointer, which in the example in question is the
pointer `pb'. If "before the storage which the object occupied is
reused" is not interpreted as such, the approach will fail for the
example in question because for the particular point being discussed,
which is the expression `*pb' being OK, the condition "before the
storage which the object occupied is reused" does not hold owing to
the allocated storage being reused through the pointer `this' within
the member function `mutate'.

> (Sentence-Y):
> (Condition-2):
> "For an object under construction or destruction,"
> "see [class.cdtor]."
>
> (Sentence-A):
> "Otherwise, such a pointer"
> (Condition-3 ?):
> "refers to allocated storage ([basic.stc.dynamic.allocation]),"
> "and using the pointer as if the pointer were of type void* is well-defined."
>
> (Sentence-B):
> "Indirection through such a pointer is permitted but the resulting lvalue may only be used in limited ways, as described below."
>
> (Sentence-C):
> "The program has undefined behavior if:" ... [through paragraph (6.5)]
>
> I would say Sentence-X is the topic sentence for all of paragraph 6, including the list (6.1)-(6.5). None of this applies to pointers that do not satisfy Condition-1 (like a pointer to an object during its lifetime, a pointer with null pointer value, or a pointer with indeterminate value). For a pointer to an object satisfying Condition-2 (yes, a special case of pointers satisfying Condition-1), [class.cdtor] covers all limitations on uses of the pointer. The word "Otherwise" contrasts with Condition-2, so that Sentences A, B, and C all apply to pointers which satisfy Condition-1 but not Condition-2. In Sentence-A, "refers to allocated storage" is not a new condition, just a rephrasing or description of Condition-1, with a better term to use since we don't want to say "pointer to object" when no object exists.
>
> So for a pointer P which satisfies Condition-1 and Condition-2:
> - The rules of [class.cdtor] apply. Sentence-A, Sentence-B, and Sentence-C do not apply.
> And for a pointer P which satisfies Condition-1 but not Condition-2:
> - Per Sentence-A, it can be used "as if it were of type void*". (This is somewhat vague, and might be just descriptive of what's NOT ruled out by paragraph 7 and sentence C.)
> - Per Sentence-B, *P and P->m are valid as long as the rules in paragraph 7 which apply to that lvalue are met.
> - Per Sentence-C, certain uses have undefined behavior.

If the interpretation of "before the storage which the object occupied
is reused" in Sentence-X is being reused _only_ through the original
pointer, I agree with your analysis. Otherwise, I don't.

> And it's worth noting I'm pretty sure the rules of [class.cdtor] are always at least as permissive as the rules from paragraph 7 and Sentence-C: anything permitted for a pointer to allocated storage without an object under construction or destruction is also allowed for a pointer to an object under construction or destruction.

Noted. Thank you.

> -- Andrew Schepler

-- 
Best regards,
Tadeus