P1304R0
Simplifying Extern Template

1. Revision History

1.1. Revision 0

Initial Release 🎉

2. Motivation

Writing extern template statements has become so painful that it is one of the least used features in C++ outside of some vendors and extremely large C++ projects such as LLVM. When performing a search across all of GitHub’s source code, all instances of extern template were found to be in test repositories for developers to play around with to understand how they worked. Most have not been touched since the first C++11 compliant compilers were released.

To best display the primary issue at hand, let’s look at what happens when we try to extern template std::string:

extern template class std::string;

Every compiler will reject the above, because we cannot extern template typedefs. Instead, we are required to know the actual definition of std::string, minus default template parameters. To actually extern template a class like std::string, one must write:

extern template class std::basic_string<char>;

This can be surprising to many since extern template class std::vector<std::string> works just fine.

Modifying the standard to let us extern template aliases is desirable.

Note: This paper does not attempt to permit specializations of alias templates, nor does it permit identifiers defined via a typedef. Instead an alias-declaration must be used. This is done to encourage the newer syntax when working with extern template.

3. Wording

Wording is relative to [N4762]

In Section 12.8.2 Explicit instantiation [temp.explicit] paragraph 3, insert:

³ If the explicit instantiation is for a class or member class, either the elaborated-type-specifier in the declaration shall include a simple-template-id , or the declaratation shall be a template-name that refers to an alias template ; otherwise the declaration shall be a simple-declaration whose init-declarator-list comprises a single init-declarator that does not have an initializer. If the explicit instantiation is for a function or member function, the unqualified-id in the declarator shall be either a template-id or, where all template arguments can be deduced, a template-name or operator-function-id. [Note: The declaration may declare a qualified-id, in which case the unqualified-id of the qualified-id must be a template-id. —end note] If the explicit instantiation is for a member function, a member class or a static data member of a class template specialization, the name of the class template specialization in the qualified-id for the member name shall be a simple-template-id. If the explicit instantiation is for a variable template specialization, the unqualified-id in the declarator shall be a simple-template-id. An explicit instantiation shall appear in an enclosing namespace of its template. If the name declared in the explicit instantiation is an unqualified name, the explicit instantiation shall appear in the namespace where its template is declared or, if that namespace is inline (9.7.1), any namespace from its enclosing namespace set. [Note: Regarding qualified names in declarators, see 9.2.3. — end note]