Problem with exceptions, templates and pure virtual functions

From:
"Dmitry Prokoptsev" <dprokoptsev2@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
8 Jul 2006 11:37:46 -0700
Message-ID:
<1152383866.277964.35170@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>
Hello,

I need to write a class for exceptions which can be thrown, caught,
stored and thrown once again. I have written the following code:

--- begin ---
#include <string>

class Exception {
public:
    virtual ~Exception() throw() {}
    virtual const char* what() const throw() = 0;
    virtual void raise() = 0;
};

class RuntimeError: public Exception {
public:
    RuntimeError(const std::string& what): what_(what) {}
    const char* what() const throw() { return what_.c_str(); }
    void raise() { throw *this; }
private:
    std::string what_;
};

template<class Self, class Base> class ExceptionImpl: public Base {
public:
    typedef ExceptionImpl<Self, Base> Impl;

    void raise() { throw *this; }
    template<class A> ExceptionImpl(A a): Base(a) {}
    // ExceptionImpl(const Self& self): Base(self) {}
};

class AbstractError: public RuntimeError {
public:
    AbstractError(const std::string& what): RuntimeError(what) {}
    virtual void foo() = 0;
};

class ConcreteError: public ExceptionImpl<ConcreteError, AbstractError>
{
public:
    ConcreteError(const std::string& what): Impl(what) {}
    void foo() {}
};

int main()
{
    ConcreteError c("foo");
    return 0;
}
--- end ---

....and received those strange compiler messages (Microsoft Visual C++
2005):

--- begin ---
Compiling...
exceptions.cpp
c:\src\temp\exceptions\exceptions.cpp : warning C4717:
'ConcreteError::ConcreteError' : recursive on all control paths,
function will cause runtime stack overflow
Linking...
exceptions.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public:
__thiscall ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class
AbstractError>::ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class
AbstractError>(class ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class
AbstractError> const &)"
(??0?$ExceptionImpl@VConcreteError@@VAbstractError@@@@QAE@ABV0@@Z)
referenced in function "public: virtual void __thiscall
ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class AbstractError>::raise(void)"
(?raise@?$ExceptionImpl@VConcreteError@@VAbstractError@@@@UAEXXZ)
exceptions.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "public:
virtual void * __thiscall ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class
AbstractError>::`scalar deleting destructor'(unsigned int)"
(??_G?$ExceptionImpl@VConcreteError@@VAbstractError@@@@UAEPAXI@Z)
exceptions.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "public:
virtual void * __thiscall ExceptionImpl<class ConcreteError,class
AbstractError>::`vector deleting destructor'(unsigned int)"
(??_E?$ExceptionImpl@VConcreteError@@VAbstractError@@@@UAEPAXI@Z)
C:\src\temp\exceptions\Debug\exceptions.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 3
unresolved externals
--- end ---

If I uncomment the commented constructor in ExceptionImpl,
ConcreteError::ConcreteError() stops to be recursive, but what compiler
wants from me when it complains about absence of `scalar deleting
destructor'?

Linker messages disappear if pure virtual function AbstractError::foo()
is removed or replaced with non-pure or non-virtual, or if body of
function ExceptionImpl::raise() is replaced with empty one.

gcc3 seem to handle this without any warnings, so what's wrong with
this code?

Thanks in advance.

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