Policies/Binary Compatibility Examples

This page is meant as examples of things you cannot do in C++ when maintaining binary compatibility.

Unexport or remove a class

Before	After
class KDECORE_EXPORT KUrl { // [...] };	class KUrl { // [...] };

Change the class hierarchy

Before	After
class MyClass: public BaseClass { // [...] };	class MyClass: public BaseClass, public OtherBaseClass { // [...] };
class MyClass: public BaseClass1, public BaseClass2 { // [...] };	class MyClass: public BaseClass2, public BaseClass1 { // [...] };

Change the template arguments of a template class

Before	After
template<typename T1> class MyTemplateClass { // [...] };	template<typename T1, typename T2 = void> class MyTemplateClass { // [...] };

Unexport a function

Before	After
Q_CORE_EXPORT const char *qVersion();	const char *qVersion();
namespace KSocketFactory { KDECORE_EXPORT QTcpSocket *connectToHost(...); }	namespace KSocketFactory { QTcpSocket *connectToHost(...); }

Inline a function

Before	After
int square(int n);	inline int square(int n) { return n * n; }
int square(int n) { return n * n; }	inline int square(int n) { return n * n; }
class Math { int square(int n); }; // the following could be in a .cpp int Math::square(int n) { return n * n; }	class Math { int square(int n); }; // the following could be in a .cpp inline int Math::square(int n) { return n * n; }
class Math { int square(int n); }; // the following could be in a .cpp int Math::square(int n) { return n * n; }	class Math { int square(int n) { return n * n; } };

Change the parameters of a function

Before	After
void doSomething(int i1, int i2);	void doSomething(int i1, short i2);
void doSomething(int i1, int i2);	void doSomething(int i1, int i2, int i3 = 0);
void doSomething(int i1);	void doSomething(const int i1); // breaks with MSVC and Sun CC
void doSomething(char *ptr);	void doSomething(const char *ptr);

Change the return type

Before	After
QTcpSocket *createDevice();	QIODevice *createDevice();

Change the CV-qualifiers of a member function

Before	After
class MyClass { int value(); };	class MyClass { int value() const; };

Change the access rights

Before	After
class MyClass { protected: void doSomething(); };	class MyClass { public: void doSomething(); };

Change the CV-qualifiers

Before	After
class MyClass { public: int something() const; };	class MyClass { public: int something(); };

Add a virtual member function to a class without any

Before	After
struct Data { int i; };	struct Data { int i; virtual int j(); };

Add new virtuals to a non-leaf class

Before	After
class MyClass { public: virtual ~MyClass(); virtual void foo(); };	class MyClass { public: virtual ~MyClass(); virtual void foo(); virtual void bar(); };

Change the order of the declaration of virtual functions

Before	After
class MyClass { public: virtual ~MyClass(); virtual void foo(); virtual void bar(); };	class MyClass { public: virtual ~MyClass(); virtual void bar(); virtual void foo(); };

Override a virtual that doesn't come from a primary base

class PrimaryBase { public:

   virtual ~PrimaryBase();
   virtual void foo();

};

class SecondaryBase { public:

   virtual ~PrimaryBase();
   virtual void bar();

};

Before	After
class MyClass: public PrimaryBase, public SecondaryBase { public: ~MyClass(); void foo(); };	class MyClass: public PrimaryBase, public SecondaryBase { public: ~MyClass(); void foo(); void bar(); };

Override a virtual with a covariant return with different top address

struct Data1 { int i; }; class BaseClass { public:

   virtual Data1 *get();

};

struct Data0 { int i; }; struct Complex1: Data0, Data1 { }; struct Complex2: virtual Data1 { };

Before	After
class MyClass: public BaseClass { public: };	class MyClass: public BaseClass { public: Complex1 *get(); };
class MyClass: public BaseClass { public: };	class MyClass: public BaseClass { public: Complex2 *get(); };