http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=51680
--- Comment #8 from Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> 2011-12-28 20:09:32 UTC --- (In reply to comment #6) > Well, it's just an impression ... :] > > I think one reason is that unlike normal functions, template functions are > implicitly sort of "local" (by necessity), in that they can have a definition > in many compilation units without causing a link conflict. To get this effect > for normal functions, one must use the "static" or "inline" keywords -- so the > impression (rightly or wrongly) is that template functions definitions are > like > one of those. Inline functions and templates both have vague linkage, which is how they avoid multiple definitions. That has nothing to do with inlining.
