How does Argument-Dependent-Lookup work for namespace-scope friend fucntion?

[neverhoodboy]

We know that argument-dependent-lookup can be used to find namespace-
scope friend function defined in some class which is otherwise not
visible using an ordinary lookup. My question is, can the argument be
of some class in the same namespace other the enclosing class of the
friend function? Please see the following code snippet:

namespace NNN
{
class BBB {};
class AAA
{
public:
friend void func() {}
friend void funca(AAA&) {}
friend void funcb(BBB&) {}
};
}

int main()
{
NNN::AAA a;
NNN::BBB b;
NNN::func(); // this will fail to compile for sure
funca(a); // this will compile with no problem because of ADL
funcb(b); // shall this compile? various compilers at my hand
give different results, so I'm asking for help to understand the exact
requirement of the C++ standards.
}

 

[Johannes Schaub]

Am 04.03.2012 12:31, schrieb neverhoodboy:

We know that argument-dependent-lookup can be used to find namespace-
scope friend function defined in some class which is otherwise not
visible using an ordinary lookup. My question is, can the argument be
of some class in the same namespace other the enclosing class of the
friend function? Please see the following code snippet:

No it cannot, unless the other class brings the first class in
consideration by making it an associated class (because, for example,
the first class is a base class of the other class).

That you get varying results from different compilers is because the C++
specification was unclear in the past and was updated by defect reports
to be clear that unassociated classes do not make their friend function
declarations visible to ADL.