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CWG3193 [dcl.friend] Missing rule banning friend declarations outside classes #906
Description
Activity
Some other issues with friendship that should perhaps be folded into this issue:
- There appears to be no normative text that specifies which class grants friendship (i.e. the class whose scope is inhabited by the friend declaration).
- We say that a friend-type-declaration declares the designated type as a friend, but we don't specify the effect of the
friendspecifier on a function declaration.
- changed the title
[-][dcl.friend] Missing rule banning friend declarations outside classes[/-][+]CWG3193 [dcl.friend] Missing rule banning friend declarations outside classes[/+]on May 16, 2026
Full name of submitter (unless configured in github; will be published with the issue):
Reference (section label): [dcl.friend]
Link to reflector thread (if any): see CWG mattermost
Issue description:
We seem to be missing a rule that actually disallows friend declarations outside classes. At least, I haven't been able to locate one after a quick look at all the use of
friendin [dcl] and [class].Suggested resolution: