Error "initializer element is not constant" when trying to initialize variable with const

Question

In C language, objects with static storage duration have to be initialized with constant expressions, or with aggregate initializers containing constant expressions.

A "large" object is never a constant expression in C, even if the object is declared as const.

Moreover, in C language, the term "constant" refers to literal constants (like 1, 'a', 0xFF and so on), enum members, and results of such operators as sizeof. Const-qualified objects (of any type) are not constants in C language terminology. They cannot be used in initializers of objects with static storage duration, regardless of their type.

For example, this is NOT a constant

const int N = 5; /* `N` is not a constant in C */

The above N would be a constant in C++, but it is not a constant in C. So, if you try doing

static int j = N; /* ERROR */

you will get the same error: an attempt to initialize a static object with a non-constant.

This is the reason why, in C language, we predominantly use #define to declare named constants, and also resort to #define to create named aggregate initializers.

It's a limitation of the language. In section 6.7.8/4:

All the expressions in an initializer for an object that has static storage duration shall be constant expressions or string literals.

In section 6.6, the spec defines what must considered a constant expression. No where does it state that a const variable must be considered a constant expression. It is legal for a compiler to extend this (6.6/10 - An implementation may accept other forms of constant expressions) but that would limit portability.

If you can change my_foo so it does not have static storage, you would be okay:

int main()
{
    foo_t my_foo = foo_init;
    return 0;
}

2021: For who reaches this post because of arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe compile error on STM32 MCUs:
Change your toolchain to gnu-tools-for-stm32.9-2020-q2-update.

From GCC V8.1+, nested constant initializer is supported and the code below will be compiled.

const int a = 1;
const int b = a +1;

typedef struct foo_t {
    int a, b, c;
} foo_t;

const foo_t foo_init = { 1, 2, 3 };
foo_t my_foo = foo_init;

int main()
{
    return 0;
}

arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe in gnu-tools-for-stm32.7-2018-q2-update is based on gcc v7.3.1 and the code above will not compile! But gnu-tools-for-stm32.9-2020-q2-update uses gcc v9.3.1 and will compile.

For more info see these:
Why "initializer element is not a constant" is... not working anymore?
and
https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=69960#c18

Just for illustration by compare and contrast The code is from http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/g-fact-80/ /The code fails in gcc and passes in g++/

#include<stdio.h>
int initializer(void)
{
    return 50;
}

int main()
{
    int j;
    for (j=0;j<10;j++)
    {
        static int i = initializer();
        /*The variable i is only initialized to one*/
        printf(" value of i = %d ", i);
        i++;
    }
    return 0;
}

This is a bit old, but I ran into a similar issue. You can do this if you use a pointer:

#include <stdio.h>
typedef struct foo_t  {
    int a; int b; int c;
} foo_t;
static const foo_t s_FooInit = { .a=1, .b=2, .c=3 };
// or a pointer
static const foo_t *const s_pFooInit = (&(const foo_t){ .a=2, .b=4, .c=6 });
int main (int argc, char **argv) {
    const foo_t *const f1 = &s_FooInit;
    const foo_t *const f2 = s_pFooInit;
    printf("Foo1 = %d, %d, %d\n", f1->a, f1->b, f1->c);
    printf("Foo2 = %d, %d, %d\n", f2->a, f2->b, f2->c);
    return 0;
}