Error with `std::vector< std::unique_ptr< T > >`

Question

I'm seeing some errors passing std::vector< std::unique_ptr< T > > around with std::move. The code that reproduces the problem is this:

#include <memory>    // for std::unique_ptr
#include <utility>   // for std::move
#include <vector>    // for std::vector

struct bar {};
using vtype = std::vector<std::unique_ptr<bar>>;

struct foo
{
    foo(vtype v) : _v(std::move(v)) { }
private:
    vtype _v;
};

vtype getVector()
{
    return { std::move( std::unique_ptr<bar>(new bar()) ) };
};    

int main()
{
foo f(std::move(getVector()));
};

With clang 3.4, this code produces this error:

$ clang++ -std=c++11 test.cpp -o xtest
In file included from test.cpp:1:
In file included from /usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/memory:64:
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_construct.h:75:38: error: call to deleted constructor of
      'std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> >'
    { ::new(static_cast<void*>(__p)) _T1(std::forward<_Args>(__args)...); }
                                     ^   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:75:8: note: in instantiation of function template specialization
      'std::_Construct<std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> >, const std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > &>' requested here
                std::_Construct(std::__addressof(*__cur), *__first);
                     ^
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:117:2: note: in instantiation of function template specialization
      'std::__uninitialized_copy<false>::__uninit_copy<const std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *, std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *>'
      requested here
        __uninit_copy(__first, __last, __result);
        ^
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:258:19: note: in instantiation of function template specialization
      'std::uninitialized_copy<const std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *, std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *>' requested here
    { return std::uninitialized_copy(__first, __last, __result); }
                  ^
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_vector.h:1204:11: note: in instantiation of function template specialization
      'std::__uninitialized_copy_a<const std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *, std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *, std::unique_ptr<bar,
      std::default_delete<bar> > >' requested here
            std::__uninitialized_copy_a(__first, __last,
                 ^
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_vector.h:368:2: note: in instantiation of function template specialization
      'std::vector<std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> >, std::allocator<std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > > >::_M_range_initialize<const
      std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> > *>' requested here
        _M_range_initialize(__l.begin(), __l.end(),
        ^
test.cpp:17:12: note: in instantiation of member function 'std::vector<std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> >, std::allocator<std::unique_ptr<bar,
      std::default_delete<bar> > > >::vector' requested here
    return { std::move( std::unique_ptr<bar>(new bar()) ) };
           ^
/usr/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../include/c++/4.8/bits/unique_ptr.h:273:7: note: function has been explicitly marked deleted here
      unique_ptr(const unique_ptr&) = delete;
      ^
1 error generated.

The situations doesn't seem to be any better with g++ 4.8:

 $ g++-4.8 -std=c++11 test.cpp -o xtest
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8/memory:64:0,
                 from test.cpp:1:
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_construct.h: In instantiation of ‘void std::_Construct(_T1*, _Args&& ...) [with _T1 = std::unique_ptr<bar>; _Args = {const std::unique_ptr<bar, std::default_delete<bar> >&}]’:
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:75:53:   required from ‘static _ForwardIterator std::__uninitialized_copy<_TrivialValueTypes>::__uninit_copy(_InputIterator, _InputIterator, _ForwardIterator) [with _InputIterator = const std::unique_ptr<bar>*; _ForwardIterator = std::unique_ptr<bar>*; bool _TrivialValueTypes = false]’
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:117:41:   required from ‘_ForwardIterator std::uninitialized_copy(_InputIterator, _InputIterator, _ForwardIterator) [with _InputIterator = const std::unique_ptr<bar>*; _ForwardIterator = std::unique_ptr<bar>*]’
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_uninitialized.h:258:63:   required from ‘_ForwardIterator std::__uninitialized_copy_a(_InputIterator, _InputIterator, _ForwardIterator, std::allocator<_Tp>&) [with _InputIterator = const std::unique_ptr<bar>*; _ForwardIterator = std::unique_ptr<bar>*; _Tp = std::unique_ptr<bar>]’
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_vector.h:1206:27:   required from ‘void std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::_M_range_initialize(_ForwardIterator, _ForwardIterator, std::forward_iterator_tag) [with _ForwardIterator = const std::unique_ptr<bar>*; _Tp = std::unique_ptr<bar>; _Alloc = std::allocator<std::unique_ptr<bar> >]’
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_vector.h:369:36:   required from ‘std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::vector(std::initializer_list<_Tp>, const allocator_type&) [with _Tp = std::unique_ptr<bar>; _Alloc = std::allocator<std::unique_ptr<bar> >; std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::allocator_type = std::allocator<std::unique_ptr<bar> >]’
test.cpp:17:59:   required from here
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/stl_construct.h:75:7: error: use of deleted function ‘std::unique_ptr<_Tp, _Dp>::unique_ptr(const std::unique_ptr<_Tp, _Dp>&) [with _Tp = bar; _Dp = std::default_delete<bar>]’
     { ::new(static_cast<void*>(__p)) _T1(std::forward<_Args>(__args)...); }
       ^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8/memory:81:0,
                 from test.cpp:1:
/usr/include/c++/4.8/bits/unique_ptr.h:273:7: error: declared here
       unique_ptr(const unique_ptr&) = delete;
       ^

According to this answer and the comments, this shouldn't be happening on these compilers, but I'm not doing exactly the same: I'm trying to initialize the vector with an initializer list.

Any idea what needs to happen in order for this code to build correctly?

Answer 1

The used of the braced-init-list in the return statement within getVector

return { std::move( std::unique_ptr<bar>(new bar()) ) };

results in a call to the std::vector<T> constructor that takes an initializer_list<T> argument. Even though you're moving the unique_ptr, an initializer_list only allows const access to its elements, due to which the vector will attempt to copy the unique_ptr, leading to the error you see.

You can fix the error by resorting to a more verbose manner of constructing the vector

vtype getVector()
{
    vtype v;
    v.push_back(std::unique_ptr<bar>(new bar()));
    return v;
}  

Live demo

---

For curiosity's sake, it is possible to construct a vector from an array of move-only objects, but you need to go through std::move_iterator to move the elements.

vtype getVector()
{
    std::unique_ptr<bar> arr[] = {std::unique_ptr<bar>(new bar())};
    return {std::make_move_iterator(std::begin(arr)),
            std::make_move_iterator(std::end(arr))};
}