Trying to use a uint*& as a const unit*& fails: invalid initialization of reference of type ‘const uint8_t*&’ from expression of type ‘uint8_t*

Question

The following code fails to compile for me (gcc 4.6.3, Ubuntu 12.04):

#include 
#include 

static inline void adjustBuffer(cons         


        

Answer 1

Passing an uint8_t * as a const uint8_t *& parameter would allow the function to replace the unint8_t * with a const uint8_t *. Now there is a const uint8_t *in the place where the caller expects a modifiable uint8_t *. This is not save, since the caller might modify the pointed-to data after the function returned.

The problem is the same as in this C++ FAQ lite section.