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1===========================================
2Libc++ 18.0.0 (In-Progress) Release Notes
3===========================================
4
5.. contents::
6   :local:
7   :depth: 2
8
9Written by the `Libc++ Team <https://libcxx.llvm.org>`_
10
11.. warning::
12
13   These are in-progress notes for the upcoming libc++ 18.0.0 release.
14   Release notes for previous releases can be found on
15   `the Download Page <https://releases.llvm.org/download.html>`_.
16
17Introduction
18============
19
20This document contains the release notes for the libc++ C++ Standard Library,
21part of the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure, release 18.0.0. Here we describe the
22status of libc++ in some detail, including major improvements from the previous
23release and new feature work. For the general LLVM release notes, see `the LLVM
24documentation <https://llvm.org/docs/ReleaseNotes.html>`_. All LLVM releases may
25be downloaded from the `LLVM releases web site <https://llvm.org/releases/>`_.
26
27For more information about libc++, please see the `Libc++ Web Site
28<https://libcxx.llvm.org>`_ or the `LLVM Web Site <https://llvm.org>`_.
29
30Note that if you are reading this file from a Git checkout or the
31main Libc++ web page, this document applies to the *next* release, not
32the current one. To see the release notes for a specific release, please
33see the `releases page <https://llvm.org/releases/>`_.
34
35What's New in Libc++ 18.0.0?
36==============================
37
38The main focus of the libc++ team has been to implement new C++20, C++23,
39and C++26 features.
40
41New hardened modes for the library have been added, replacing the legacy debug mode that was
42removed in the LLVM 17 release. Unlike the legacy debug mode, some of these hardening modes are
43also intended to be used in production. See :ref:`hardening-modes` for more details.
44
45Work on the ranges support has progressed. See
46:ref:`ranges-status` for the current status.
47
48Work on the experimental C++23 module support has progressed. The ``std.compat``
49module is available and the feature is retroactively available in C++20. See
50:ref:`ModulesInLibcxx` for more information.
51
52Work on the experimental C++17 Parallel STL has progressed. See
53:ref:`pstl-status` for the current status.
54
55Work on the experimental C++17 SIMD support has progressed. See
56:ref:`parallelism-status` for the current status.
57
58
59Implemented Papers
60------------------
61- P2093R14 - Formatted output
62- P2539R4  - Should the output of ``std::print`` to a terminal be synchronized with the underlying stream?
63- P2497R0 - Testing for success or failure of ``<charconv>`` functions
64- P2697R1 - Interfacing ``bitset`` with ``string_view``
65- P2443R1 - ``views::chunk_by``
66- P2538R1 - ADL-proof ``std::projected``
67- P2614R2 - Deprecate ``numeric_limits::has_denorm``
68- P0053R7 - C++ Synchronized Buffered Ostream (in the experimental library)
69- P2467R1 - Support exclusive mode for fstreams
70- P0020R6 - Floating Point Atomic
71- P2905R2 - Runtime format strings
72- P2918R2 - Runtime format strings II
73- P2871R3 - Remove Deprecated Unicode Conversion Facets from C++26
74- P2870R3 - Remove ``basic_string::reserve()``
75- P2909R4 - Fix formatting of code units as integers (Dude, where’s my ``char``?)
76- P2821R5 - ``span.at()``
77- P0521R0 - Proposed Resolution for CA 14 (``shared_ptr`` ``use_count/unique``)
78- P0543R3 - Saturation arithmetic
79- P1759R6 - Native handles and file streams
80- P2868R3 - Remove Deprecated ``std::allocator`` Typedef From C++26
81- P2517R1 - Add a conditional ``noexcept`` specification to ``std::apply``
82- P2447R6 - ``span`` over initializer list
83
84
85Improvements and New Features
86-----------------------------
87
88- ``std::ranges::count`` and ``std::ranges::find`` are  now optimized for
89  ``std::vector<bool>::iterator``, which can lead up to 350x performance
90  improvements.
91
92- ``std::for_each`` has been optimized for segmented iterators like ``std::deque::iterator`` in C++23 and
93  later, which can lead up to 40x performance improvements.
94
95- The library now provides several hardening modes under which common cases of library undefined behavior will be turned
96  into a reliable program termination. The ``fast`` hardening mode enables a set of security-critical checks with
97  minimal runtime overhead; the ``extensive`` hardening mode additionally enables relatively cheap checks that catch
98  common logic errors but aren't necessarily security-critical; and the ``debug`` hardening mode enables all available
99  checks, some of which might be very expensive. Vendors can configure which hardening mode is enabled by default with
100  the ``LIBCXX_HARDENING_MODE`` variable at CMake configuration time. Users can control which hardening mode is enabled
101  on a per translation unit basis using the ``_LIBCPP_HARDENING_MODE`` macro. See :ref:`the hardening documentation
102  <using-hardening-modes>` for more details.
103
104- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX26_REMOVED_CODECVT`` macro has been added to make
105  the declarations in ``<codecvt>`` available.
106
107- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX26_REMOVED_STRING_RESERVE`` macro has been added to make
108  the function ``std::basic_string<...>::reserve()`` available.
109
110- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX26_REMOVED_ALLOCATOR_MEMBERS`` macro has been added to make
111  the function ``allocator<T>::is_always_equal`` available.
112
113- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX20_REMOVED_SHARED_PTR_UNIQUE`` macro has been added to make
114  the function ``std::shared_ptr<...>::unique()`` available.
115
116- The cmake option ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_STD_MODULES`` has been removed. The test
117  infrastructure no longer depends on a modern CMake, it works with the minimal
118  required LLVM version (3.20.0).
119
120- The ``.cppm`` files of experimental standard library modules can now be
121  installed. By default, they are not installed. This can be enabled by
122  configuring CMake with ``-DLIBCXX_INSTALL_MODULES=ON``. The installation
123  directory can be configured with the CMake option
124  ``-DLIBCXX_INSTALL_MODULE_DIR=<path>``. The default location is
125  ``${PREFIX}/share/libc++/v1``.
126
127- AddressSanitizer annotations have been added to ``std::basic_string``.
128  These annotations are enabled for all allocators by default.
129  It's only enabled for long strings, strings using the small buffer optimization are not annotated.
130
131- The libc++ source code has been formatted with ``clang-format``. This
132  `discourse thread <https://discourse.llvm.org/t/rfc-clang-formatting-all-of-libc-once-and-for-all>`_
133  contains information how to rebase downstream patches.
134
135Deprecations and Removals
136-------------------------
137
138- Availability macros which will never trigger an error have been removed. This includes anything that has been
139  introduced before macOS 10.13, iOS 12, tvOS 12 and watchOS 4. This shouldn't affect anybody, since AppleClang 15
140  doesn't support any older OSes. If you are a vendor and make use of these macros, please inform the libc++ team so we
141  can re-introduce them and consider upstreaming support for your platform.
142
143- The non-conforming constructor ``std::future_error(std::error_code)`` has been removed. Please use the
144  ``std::future_error(std::future_errc)`` constructor provided in C++17 instead.
145
146- `P1957 <https://wg21.link/P1957>`_ has been implemented in Clang and libc++ removed a code path that led to
147  narrowing conversions in ``std::variant`` behaving in a non-standard way. This may change how some uses of
148  ``std::variant``'s constructor behave in user code. The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_NARROWING_CONVERSIONS_IN_VARIANT``
149  macro is provided to restore the previous behavior, and it will be supported in the LLVM 18 release only.
150  In LLVM 19 and beyond, ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_NARROWING_CONVERSIONS_IN_VARIANT`` will not be honored anymore.
151
152- Overriding ``__libcpp_verbose_abort`` no longer has any effect on library assertions. The only supported way
153  to customize the assertion handler that gets invoked when a hardening assertion fails is now by setting the
154  ``LIBCXX_ASSERTION_HANDLER_FILE`` CMake variable and providing a custom header. See the documentation on
155  overriding the default assertion handler for details. The ability to override ``__libcpp_verbose_abort``
156  will be removed in an upcoming release in favor of the new overriding mechanism.
157
158- In safe mode (which is now equivalent to the ``extensive`` hardening mode), a failed assertion will now
159  generate a trap rather than a call to verbose abort.
160
161- The ``_LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_CUSTOM_VERBOSE_ABORT_PROVIDED`` macro is not honored anymore in LLVM 18.
162  Please see the updated documentation about the hardening modes in libc++ and in particular on
163  overriding the default assertion handler.
164
165- The headers ``<experimental/deque>``, ``<experimental/forward_list>``, ``<experimental/list>``,
166  ``<experimental/map>``, ``<experimental/memory_resource>``, ``<experimental/regex>``, ``<experimental/set>``,
167  ``<experimental/string>``, ``<experimental/unordered_map>``, ``<experimental/unordered_set>``,
168  and ``<experimental/vector>`` have been removed in LLVM 18, as all their contents will have been
169  implemented in namespace ``std`` for at least two releases.
170
171- The macro ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX20_REMOVED_ALLOCATOR_MEMBERS`` has been deprecated and will be removed
172  in LLVM 19. This macro used to re-enable redundant members of ``std::allocator<T>`` like ``pointer``,
173  ``reference``, ``rebind``, ``address``, ``max_size``, ``construct``, ``destroy``, and the two-argument
174  overload of ``allocate``. However, this led to the library being non-conforming due to incorrect
175  constexpr-ness.
176
177- The macros ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX17_REMOVED_FEATURES`` and
178  ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX20_REMOVED_FEATURES`` have been deprecated and
179  will be removed in LLVM 19. These macros used to re-enable all features
180  that were removed in the C++17 and C++20 standards. Instead of using these
181  macros, please use the macros to re-enable individual features.
182
183- The macro ``_LIBCPP_INLINE_VISIBILITY`` has been deprecated in LLVM 18 and
184  will be removed entirely in LLVM 19. The macro ``_LIBCPP_HIDE_FROM_ABI`` is
185  the drop-in replacement.
186
187- The macro ``_VSTD`` has been deprecated in LLVM 18 and will be removed
188  entirely in LLVM 19. The code ``std`` is the drop-in replacement.
189
190
191Upcoming Deprecations and Removals
192----------------------------------
193
194- The ability to override ``__libcpp_verbose_abort`` will be removed in an upcoming release.
195
196LLVM 19
197~~~~~~~
198
199- The ``LIBCXX_EXECUTOR`` CMake variable has been deprecated.  LLVM 19 will
200  completely remove support for the ``*_EXECUTOR`` variables.
201
202- The ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS`` CMake variable that was used to enable the safe mode will be deprecated and setting
203  it will trigger an error; use the ``LIBCXX_HARDENING_MODE`` variable with the value ``extensive`` instead. Similarly,
204  the ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS`` macro will be deprecated (setting it to ``1`` still enables the extensive mode in
205  the LLVM 19 release while also issuing a deprecation warning). See :ref:`the hardening documentation
206  <using-hardening-modes>` for more details.
207
208- The base template for ``std::char_traits`` has been marked as deprecated and will be removed in LLVM 19. If you
209  are using ``std::char_traits`` with types other than ``char``, ``wchar_t``, ``char8_t``, ``char16_t``, ``char32_t``
210  or a custom character type for which you specialized ``std::char_traits``, your code will stop working when we
211  remove the base template. The Standard does not mandate that a base template is provided, and such a base template
212  is bound to be incorrect for some types, which could currently cause unexpected behavior while going undetected.
213  Note that the ``_LIBCPP_CHAR_TRAITS_REMOVE_BASE_SPECIALIZATION`` macro can be defined in LLVM 18 to eagerly remove
214  the specialization and prepare code bases for the unconditional removal in LLVM 19.
215
216- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_NARROWING_CONVERSIONS_IN_VARIANT`` macro that changed the behavior for narrowing conversions
217  in ``std::variant`` will be removed in LLVM 19.
218
219- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX20_REMOVED_ALLOCATOR_MEMBERS`` macro has been deprecated in LLVM 18 and will be removed
220  entirely in LLVM 19.
221
222- The ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX17_REMOVED_FEATURES`` and
223  ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX20_REMOVED_FEATURES`` macros have been deprecated
224  in LLVM 18 and will be removed entirely in LLVM 19.
225
226- The macro ``_LIBCPP_INLINE_VISIBILITY`` has been deprecated in LLVM 18 and
227  will be removed entirely in LLVM 19.
228
229- The macro ``_VSTD`` has been deprecated in LLVM 18 and will be removed
230  entirely in LLVM 19.
231
232LLVM 20
233~~~~~~~
234
235- The ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS`` CMake variable and the ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS`` macro that were used to enable
236  the safe mode will be removed.
237
238
239ABI Affecting Changes
240---------------------
241
242- When the shared/static library is built with ``-fno-exceptions``, the behavior of ``operator new`` was changed
243  to make it standards-conforming. In LLVM 17 and before, the throwing versions of ``operator new`` would return
244  ``nullptr`` upon failure to allocate, when the shared/static library was built with exceptions disabled. This
245  was non-conforming, since the throwing versions of ``operator new`` are never expected to return ``nullptr``, and
246  this non-conformance could actually lead to miscompiles in subtle cases.
247
248  Starting in LLVM 18, the throwing versions of ``operator new`` will abort the program when they fail to allocate
249  if the shared/static library has been built with ``-fno-exceptions``. This is consistent with the behavior of all
250  other potentially-throwing functions in the library, which abort the program instead of throwing when ``-fno-exceptions``
251  is used.
252
253  Furthermore, when the shared/static library is built with ``-fno-exceptions``, users who override the throwing
254  version of ``operator new`` will now need to also override the ``std::nothrow_t`` version of ``operator new`` if
255  they want to use it. Indeed, this is because there is no way to implement a conforming ``operator new(nothrow)``
256  from a conforming potentially-throwing ``operator new`` when compiled with ``-fno-exceptions``. In that case, using
257  ``operator new(nothrow)`` without overriding it explicitly but after overriding the throwing ``operator new`` will
258  result in an error.
259
260  Note that this change only impacts vendors/users that build the shared/static library themselves and pass
261  ``-DLIBCXX_ENABLE_EXCEPTIONS=OFF``, which is not the default configuration. If you are using the default
262  configuration of the library, the libc++ shared/static library will be built with exceptions enabled, and
263  there is no change between LLVM 17 and LLVM 18, even for users who build their own code using ``-fno-exceptions``.
264
265- The symbol of a non-visible function part of ``std::system_error`` was removed.
266  This is not a breaking change as the private function ``__init`` was never referenced internally outside of the dylib.
267
268- This release of libc++ added missing visibility annotations on some types in the library. Users compiling with
269  ``-fvisbility=hidden`` may notice that additional type infos from libc++ are being exported from their ABI. This is
270  the correct behavior in almost all cases since exporting the RTTI is required for these types to work properly with
271  ``dynamic_cast``, exceptions and other mechanisms across binaries. However, if you intend to use libc++ purely as an
272  internal implementation detail (i.e. you use libc++ as a static archive and never export libc++ symbols from your ABI)
273  and you notice changes to your exported symbols list, then this means that you were not properly preventing libc++
274  symbols from being part of your ABI.
275
276- The name mangling for instantiations of ``std::projected`` has changed in order to implement P2538R1. This technically
277  results in an ABI break, however in practice we expect uses of ``std::projected`` in ABI-sensitive places to be
278  extremely rare. Any error resulting from this change should result in a link-time error.
279
280- The internal alignment requirements for heap allocations inside ``std::string`` has decreased from 16 to 8. This
281  saves memory since string requests fewer additional bytes than it did previously. However, this also changes the
282  return value of ``std::string::max_size`` and can cause code compiled against older libc++ versions but linked at
283  runtime to a new version to throw a different exception when attempting allocations that are too large
284  (``std::bad_alloc`` vs ``std::length_error``).
285
286- The layout of some range adaptors that use the ``movable-box`` exposition-only type as an implementation
287  detail has changed in order to fix a `bug <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/70506>`_ which could result in
288  overwriting user data following the ``movable-box``.
289  This bug was caused by incorrect usage of the ``[[no_unique_address]]`` attribute inside the implementation of ``movable-box``.
290  This fix affects the layout of the following views: ``take_while_view``, ``filter_view``, ``single_view``, ``drop_while_view``,
291  ``repeat_view``, ``transform_view``, ``chunk_by_view``. In order to avoid silent breakage as a result of this fix, an ABI tag has been added to
292  these views such that their mangled name will be different starting in this version of libc++.
293  As a result, attempting to call a function that expects one of these views will fail to link until the code has been rebuilt
294  against a matching version of libc++. In practice, we believe it is unusual for these views to appear at ABI boundaries so this
295  should not be a major problem for most users. However it is probably worth auditing ranges-heavy code for ABI boundaries that
296  would contain these views, or for types that contain these views as members and which are passed across ABI boundaries.
297
298- Some properties of libc++ may cause ODR-violations when mixing multiple libc++
299  instances. To avoid these, often benign, ODR-violations the ODR-affecting
300  properties are now part of the ABI tag. The ODR-affecting properties are:
301
302    - library version (This was part of the ABI tag prior to LLVM 18.)
303    - exceptions vs no-exceptions
304    - hardening mode
305
306  This should not be ABI-affecting except that libc++ will be more robust
307  against different configurations of it being used in different translation
308  units.
309
310- The amount of padding bytes available for use at the end of certain ``std::expected`` instantiations has changed in this
311  release. This is an ABI break for any code that held a ``std::expected`` member with ``[[no_unique_address]]`` in an
312  ABI-facing type. In those cases, the layout of the enclosing type will change, breaking the ABI. However, the
313  ``std::expected<T, E>`` member requires a few characteristics in order to be affected by this change:
314
315  - A type equivalent to ``union {T ; E}`` needs to have more than one byte of padding available.
316  - The ``std::expected<T, E>`` member must have been in a situation where its padding bytes were previously reused by
317    another object, which can happen in a few cases (this is probably not exhaustive):
318
319    - It is a member with ``[[no_unique_address]]`` applied to it, and it is followed by another data member, or
320    - It is a member with ``[[no_unique_address]]`` applied to it, and it is the last member of the user-defined type,
321      and that user-defined type is used in ways that its padding bytes can be reused, or
322    - It is inherited from
323
324  We expect that this will not be a very frequent occurrence. However, there is unfortunately no technique we can use
325  in the library to catch such misuse. Indeed, even applying an ABI tag to ``std::expected`` would not help since ABI
326  tags are not propagated to containing types. As a result, if you notice very difficult to explain bugs around the
327  usage of a ``std::expected``, you should consider checking whether you are hitting this ABI break. This change was
328  done to fix `#70494 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/70494>`_ and the vendor communication is handled
329  in `#70820 <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/70820>`_.
330
331
332Build System Changes
333--------------------
334
335- The ``LIBCXX_EXECUTOR`` CMake variable has been deprecated. If you are relying on this, the new replacement is
336  passing ``-Dexecutor=...`` to ``llvm-lit``. Alternatively, this flag can be made persistent in the generated test
337  configuration file by passing ``-DLIBCXX_TEST_PARAMS=executor=...``. This also applies to the ``LIBUWIND_EXECTOR``
338  and ``LIBCXXABI_EXECUTOR`` CMake variables. LLVM 19 will completely remove support for the ``*_EXECUTOR`` variables.
339
340- ``LIBCXXABI_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER`` and ``COMPILER_RT_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER`` switched defaults from ``OFF`` to ``ON``.
341  This means that by default, libc++abi and compiler-rt will link against the LLVM provided ``libunwind`` library
342  instead of the system-provided unwinding library. If you are building the LLVM runtimes with the goal of shipping
343  them so that they can interoperate with other system-provided libraries that might be using a different unwinding
344  library (such as ``libgcc_s``), you should pass ``LIBCXXABI_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER=OFF`` and ``COMPILER_RT_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER=OFF``
345  to make sure the system-provided unwinding library is used by the LLVM runtimes.
346