Duplicate c++ template instantiations

Question

Is it possible for the compiler to duplicate instantiations of a same template across several translation units?

For instance, if you have a.cpp which use a st

Answer 1

It is possible, but only if you explicitly instantiate them, but then you will get a linker errors :

// header.hpp
template< typename T >
class A
{
};

// source1.cpp
template class A< int >;

// source2.cpp
template class A< int >;

If you are not explicitly instantiating templates, then any decent linker will easily eliminate copies.