Problem with private copy constructor

[Mathias Froehlich <M.Froehlich@science-computing.de>]

Hi,

I have a problem with that following code together with gcc-4.1.1.

#include <iostream>

class base {
public:
   base()
   { std::cout << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << " " << this << std::endl; }
private:
   base(const base&);
};

class derived : public base {
public:
   derived()
   { std::cout << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << " " << this << std::endl; }
};

void fuu(const base& b)
{
}

int main()
{
   fuu(derived());
   return 17;
}

gcc bails out with the following error message:

gcctest2.cpp: In copy constructor 'derived::derived(const derived&)':
gcctest2.cpp:8: error: 'base::base(const base&)' is private
gcctest2.cpp:11: error: within this context
gcctest2.cpp: In function 'int main()':
gcctest2.cpp:23: note: synthesized method 'derived::derived(const derived&)' 
first required here 

From my understanding of c++, I would not expect that this copy constructor is 
called in this case. In fact, gcc-3.3.4 and various other UNIX c++ compilers 
do not need that copy constructor either.

Do I need to dig out my copy of the C++ standard or is it something to file a 
bugreport?

    Greetings

          Mathias

-- 
Dr. Mathias Fröhlich, science + computing ag, Software Solutions
Hagellocher Weg 71-75, D-72070 Tuebingen, Germany
Phone: +49 7071 9457-268, Fax: +49 7071 9457-511