Multiple Inheritence/Const Compiler bug

Question

I'm encountering what appears to be a bug when mixing multiple inheritence & const/non-const methods. The compiler (WorkShop 6 Update 2) is accepting the following ill-formed code :
class Base1 {
int a; //If Base1 is empty, the problem doesn't appear.
//A virtual function elicits the bug as well.
class Base2 {
public:
void mutator() { //non-const method   
class Derived : public Base1, public Base2 {
class Foo {
private:
Derived my_derived;
public:
void f() const {
my_derived.mutator();
int main (int argc, char* argv[])
Foo my_foo;
my_foo.f();
Note how f() in class Foo is const, yet attempts to call mutator(), a non-const method that my_derived gets via inheritence to Base2. This is ill formed and should, I believe, yield a compiler error. If the code is just subtly changed, the correct error will appear. For instance, if Base1 is empty, the appropriate error appears. Alternatively, if Base2 appears before Base1 in Derived's inheritence list, then the appropriate error appears.
Is this a known problem? Is there a patch available? I'm very concerned that this bug is allowing const-incorrect code to be developed unknowingly, as it has in the project I'm involved in.
Thanks in advance for giving this your attention!
David Michael

Answer 1

The bug report hasn't been filed yet. If you have contract with Sun, please follow the service channel to file the report. Otherwise, I can do it for you. Please provide:
- O/S version
- Architecture
Please notice that if you don't have contract with sun, the bug might be in a low priority.
- Rose