The following code compiles successfully using gcc-4.3.2 (Cygwin, gcc 4.3.2 20080827 (beta) 2) running under Windows Vista (Ver 6.0 Build 6002 Service Pack 2).
// inaccessible_test.cpp class X { }; class Y : protected X { }; class Z : private X { public: void f(Y *); }; void Z::f(Y *p_y) { X *p_x = p_y; // #1 } [compiled with gcc-4 -c inaccessible_test.cpp] I would have expected this to have failed at the line marked #1 with an error "'X' is an inaccessible base of 'Y'." If class Y is changed so that it derives from X using private inheritance, that is: class Y : private X { }; compilation then fails (appropriately, in my view) with the above error message. Furthermore, if I add the following in main: int main() { Y y; X *p_x = &y; // #2 return 0; } the error "'X' is an inaccessible base of 'Y'" is reported at line #2. In my opinion the compiler is falsely interpreting protected inheritance of Y from X to grant access to the protected base to any class that likewise derives from X, rather than just from Y itself and any other class that in turn derives from Y. (The rejection of line #2 in main appears to indicate that it is not as simple as that the protected access is ignored in all cases.) This issue appears to be closely related to (if not duplicating) GCC Bugzilla Bug 35640 (http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=35640). Paul Bibbings -- Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/ Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple