Given the following declaration in the global namespace:
constexpr int x = x;
Is this well-formed?
The draft C++14 standard section
This was clarified and made ill-formed by defect report 2026: Zero-initialization and constexpr which asks:
According to 3.6.2 [basic.start.init] paragraph 2,
Variables with static storage duration (3.7.1 [basic.stc.static]) or thread storage duration (3.7.2 [basic.stc.thread]) shall be zero-initialized (8.5 [dcl.init]) before any other initialization takes place.
Does this apply to constant initialization as well? For example, should the following be well-formed, relying on the presumed zero-initialization preceding the constant initialization?
constexpr int i = i; struct s { constexpr s() : v(v) { } int v; }; constexpr s s1;
The note before the proposed resolution says:
CWG agreed that constant initialization should be considered as happening instead of zero initialization in these cases, making the declarations ill-formed.
and the proposed resolution clarifies and amongst many changes, removes the following wording:
Variables with static storage duration (3.7.1) or thread storage duration (3.7.2) shall be zero-initialized (8.5) before any other initialization takes place. [...]
and adds the following wording:
If constant initialization is not performed, a variable with static storage duration (3.7.1 [basic.stc.static]) or thread storage duration (3.7.2 [basic.stc.thread]) is zero-initialized (8.5 [dcl.init]). [...]
It is a large change, it renames [basic.start.init] to [basic.start.static] and created a new section [basic.start.dynamic] and modifies [stmt.dcl]