http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54399
Bug #: 54399 Summary: Invalid partial change from dynamic to static initialization Classification: Unclassified Product: gcc Version: 4.8.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c++ AssignedTo: unassig...@gcc.gnu.org ReportedBy: rafael.espind...@gmail.com I initially thought that this was a missed optimization in llvm (http://llvm.org/pr13677), but Richard Smith convinced me this actually a bug in gcc. $ cat test1.cpp struct foo { int a; int b; int c; int d; int e; }; int zed(); int x = zed(); foo bar = {x, 1, 2, 3, 4}; $ cat test2.cpp #include <stdio.h> struct foo { int a; int b; int c; int d; int e; }; extern foo bar; int zed() { return bar.d; } int main(void) { printf("%d\n", bar.a); return 0; } With gcc: $ ~/gcc/build/gcc/xgcc -std=c++11 -B ~/gcc/build/gcc -c test1.cpp $ ~/gcc/build/gcc/xgcc -std=c++11 -B ~/gcc/build/gcc -c test2.cpp $ g++ test1.o test2.o -o t $ ./t 3 and with clang: $ clang test1.cpp test2.cpp -o t [espindola@desktop llvm]$ ./t 0 If I understand Richard's argument correctly, the program must print 0 because * from [basic.start.init] p2 both x and bar get dynamic initializations. In that case x is initialized first and zed will see bar zero initialized. * from p3, we can convert a variable to static initialization, but not part of it. The possibilities are: 1) Only x is converted to static initialization. x should be static initialized to 0. When bar is dynamic initialized it will be initialized to {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. 2) Only bar is converted to static initialization. It should still be initialized to {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. In this case x is dynamically initialized to 3. 3) Both x and bar are converted to static initialization. In this case x is 0 and bar is {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. The output produced by gcc doesn't match any of the possibilities provided by the standard.