Request for member 'operator()' is ambiguous... Really? [duplicate]

Question

I'm playing with a trick to overload lambdas in C++. Specifically:

// For std::function
#include <functional>

// For std::string
#include <string>

// For std::cout
#include <iostream>

template <class... F>
struct overload : F... {
    overload(F... f) : F(f)... {}
};      

template <class... F>
auto make_overload(F... f) {
    return overload<F...>(f...);
}

int main() {

    std::function <int(int,int)> f = [](int x,int y) {
        return x+y;
    };
    std::function <double(double,double)> g = [](double x,double y) {
        return x+y;
    };
    std::function <std::string(std::string,std::string)> h = [](std::string x,std::string y) {
        return x+y;
    };

    auto fgh = make_overload(f,g,h);
    std::cout << fgh(1,2) << std::endl;
    std::cout << fgh(1.5,2.5) << std::endl;
    std::cout << fgh("bob","larry") << std::endl;
}

Now, the above program compiles and works fine in clang:

$ clang++ -g -std=c++14 test01.cpp -o test01
$ ./test01
3
4
boblarry

It does not compile in gcc:

$ g++ -g -std=c++14 test01.cpp -o test01
test01.cpp: In function 'int main()':
test01.cpp:36:25: error: request for member 'operator()' is ambiguous
     std::cout << fgh(1,2) << std::endl;
                         ^
In file included from test01.cpp:5:0:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note: candidates are: _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = std::basic_string<char>; _ArgTypes = {std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >}]
     function<_Res(_ArgTypes...)>::
     ^
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = double; _ArgTypes = {double, double}]
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = int; _ArgTypes = {int, int}]
test01.cpp:37:29: error: request for member 'operator()' is ambiguous
     std::cout << fgh(1.5,2.5) << std::endl;
                             ^
In file included from test01.cpp:5:0:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note: candidates are: _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = std::basic_string<char>; _ArgTypes = {std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >}]
     function<_Res(_ArgTypes...)>::
     ^
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = double; _ArgTypes = {double, double}]
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = int; _ArgTypes = {int, int}]
test01.cpp:38:35: error: request for member 'operator()' is ambiguous
     std::cout << fgh("bob","larry") << std::endl;
                                   ^
In file included from test01.cpp:5:0:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note: candidates are: _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = std::basic_string<char>; _ArgTypes = {std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >}]
     function<_Res(_ArgTypes...)>::
     ^
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = double; _ArgTypes = {double, double}]
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.2/include/g++-v4/functional:2434:5: note:                 _Res std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::operator()(_ArgTypes ...) const [with _Res = int; _ArgTypes = {int, int}]
Makefile:2: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 1

Why is there a difference? For the record, I'm using gcc 4.9.2 and clang 3.5.0.

---

Edit 1

Evidently, this snippet of code failed to compile on VC as well and had already been reported. That being said, Sean Middleditch posted a working version of the overloaded code:

template<class F1, class... Fs>
struct overload : F1, overload<Fs...>
{
    using F1::operator();
    using overload<Fs...>::operator();
    overload(F1 f1, Fs... fs) : F1(f1), overload<Fs...>(fs...) {}
};

template<class F1>
struct overload<F1> : F1
{
    using F1::operator();
    overload(F1 f1) : F1(f1) {}
};


template <class... F>
auto make_overload(F... f) {
    return overload<F...>(f...);
}

I'm still interested in understanding why this version of the overloaded lambda code works, but the original one does not.

Answer 1

Looks like a Clang bug to me.

The general rule is that member functions of the same name in different base classes do not overload. For example:

struct Foo { void bar(); };
struct Baz { void bar(int); };
struct Quux : Foo, Baz { };

int main() { Quux().bar(); } // error on both GCC and Clang

For whatever reason, Clang fails to diagnose this ambiguity for operator().

A using-declaration lifts the named base class members to the derived class scope, allowing them to overload. Hence:

struct Quux_2 : Foo, Baz { using Foo::bar; using Baz::bar; };
Quux_2().bar(); // OK.

In the working version of the code, the using declarations recursively bring every operator() declaration in the template arguments into the scope of the most derived class, allowing them to overload.