Using C++ in Mozilla code

C++ language features

Mozilla code only uses a subset of C++. Runtime type information (RTTI) is disabled, as it tends to cause a very large increase in codesize. This means that dynamic_cast, typeid() and <typeinfo> cannot be used in Mozilla code. Also disabled are exceptions; do not use try/catch or throw any exceptions. Libraries that throw exceptions may be used if you are willing to have the throw instead be treated as an abort.

On the side of extending C++, we compile with -fno-strict-aliasing. This means that when reinterpreting a pointer as a differently-typed pointer, you don’t need to adhere to the “effective type” (of the pointee) rule from the standard (aka. “the strict aliasing rule”) when dereferencing the reinterpreted pointer. You still need make sure that you don’t violate alignment requirements and need to make sure that the data at the memory location pointed to forms a valid value when interpreted according to the type of the pointer when dereferencing the pointer for reading. Likewise, if you write by dereferencing the reinterpreted pointer and the originally-typed pointer might still be dereferenced for reading, you need to make sure that the values you write are valid according to the original type. This value validity issue is moot for e.g. primitive integers for which all bit patterns of their size are valid values.

  • As of Mozilla 59, C++14 mode is required to build Mozilla.

  • As of Mozilla 67, MSVC can no longer be used to build Mozilla.

  • As of Mozilla 73, C++17 mode is required to build Mozilla.

This means that C++17 can be used where supported on all platforms. The list of acceptable features is given below:

GCC

Clang

Current minimal requirement

8.1

8.0

Feature

GCC

Clang

Can be used in code

type_t &&

4.3

2.9

Yes (see notes)

ref qualifiers on methods

4.8.1

2.9

Yes

default member-initializers (except for bit-fields)

4.7

3.0

Yes

default member-initializers (for bit-fields)

8

6

No

variadic templates

4.3

2.9

Yes

Initializer lists

4.4

3.1

Yes

static_assert

4.3

2.9

Yes

auto

4.4

2.9

Yes

lambdas

4.5

3.1

Yes

decltype

4.3

2.9

Yes

Foo<Bar<T>>

4.3

2.9

Yes

auto func() -> int

4.4

3.1

Yes

Templated aliasing

4.7

3.0

Yes

nullptr

4.6

3.0

Yes

enum foo : int16_t {};

4.4

2.9

Yes

enum class foo {};

4.4

2.9

Yes

enum foo;

4.6

3.1

Yes

[[attributes]]

4.8

3.3

No (see notes)

constexpr

4.6

3.1

Yes

alignas

4.8

3.3

Yes

alignof

4.8

3.3

Yes, but see notes ; only clang 3.6 claims as_feature(cxx_alignof)

Delegated constructors

4.7

3.0

Yes

Inherited constructors

4.8

3.3

Yes

explicit operator bool()

4.5

3.0

Yes

char16_t/u"string"

4.4

3.0

Yes

R"(string)"

4.5

3.0

Yes

operator""()

4.7

3.1

Yes

=delete

4.4

2.9

Yes

=default

4.4

3.0

Yes

unrestricted unions

4.6

3.1

Yes

for (auto x : vec) (be careful about the type of the iterator)

4.6

3.0

Yes

override/final

4.7

3.0

Yes

thread_local

4.8

3.3

No (see notes)

function template default arguments

4.3

2.9

Yes

local structs as template parameters

4.5

2.9

Yes

extended friend declarations

4.7

2.9

Yes

0b100 (C++14)

4.9

2.9

Yes

Tweaks to some C++ contextual conversions (C++14)

4.9

3.4

Yes

Return type deduction (C++14)

4.9

3.4

Yes (but only in template code when you would have used decltype (complex-expression))

Generic lambdas (C++14)

4.9

3.4

Yes

Initialized lambda captures (C++14)

4.9

3.4

Yes

Digit separator (C++14)

4.9

3.4

Yes

Variable templates (C++14)

5.0

3.4

Yes

Relaxed constexpr (C++14)

5.0

3.4

Yes

Aggregate member initialization (C++14)

5.0

3.3

Yes

Clarifying memory allocation (C++14)

5.0

3.4

Yes

[[deprecated]] attribute (C++14)

4.9

3.4

No (see notes)

Sized deallocation (C++14)

5.0

3.4

No (see notes)

Concepts (Concepts TS)

6.0

No

Inline variables (C++17)

7.0

3.9

Yes

constexpr_if (C++17)

7.0

3.9

Yes

constexpr lambdas (C++17)

No

Structured bindings (C++17)

7.0

4.0

Yes

Separated declaration and condition in if, switch (C++17)

7.0

3.9

Yes

Fold expressions (C++17)

6.0

3.9

Yes

[[fallthrough]], [[maybe_unused]], [[nodiscard]] (C++17)

7.0

3.9

Yes

Aligned allocation/deallocation (C++17)

7.0

4.0

No (see notes)

Designated initializers (C++20)

8.0 (4.7)

10.0 (3.0)

Yes [sic] (see notes)

#pragma once

3.4

Yes

Not until we normalize headers

Source code information capture

8.0

No

Sources

Notes

rvalue references

Implicit move method generation cannot be used.

Attributes

Several common attributes are defined in mozilla/Attributes.h or nscore.h.

Alignment

Some alignment utilities are defined in mozilla/Alignment.h.

Caution

MOZ_ALIGNOF and alignof don’t have the same semantics. Be careful of what you expect from them.

[[deprecated]]

If we have deprecated code, we should be removing it rather than marking it as such. Marking things as [[deprecated]] also means the compiler will warn if you use the deprecated API, which turns into a fatal error in our automation builds, which is not helpful.

Sized deallocation

Our compilers all support this (custom flags are required for GCC and Clang), but turning it on breaks some classes’ operator new methods, and some work would need to be done to make it an efficiency win with our custom memory allocator.

Aligned allocation/deallocation

Our custom memory allocator doesn’t have support for these functions.

Thread locals

thread_local is not supported on Android.

Designated initializers

Despite their late addition to C++ (and lack of official support by compilers until relatively recently), C++20’s designated initializers are merely a subset of a feature originally introduced in C99 – and this subset has been accepted without comment in C++ code since at least GCC 4.7 and Clang 3.0.

C++ and Mozilla standard libraries

The Mozilla codebase contains within it several subprojects which follow different rules for which libraries can and can’t be used it. The rules listed here apply to normal platform code, and assume unrestricted usability of MFBT or XPCOM APIs.

Warning

The rest of this section is a draft for expository and exploratory purposes. Do not trust the information listed here.

What follows is a list of standard library components provided by Mozilla or the C++ standard. If an API is not listed here, then it is not permissible to use it in Mozilla code. Deprecated APIs are not listed here. In general, prefer Mozilla variants of data structures to standard C++ ones, even when permitted to use the latter, since Mozilla variants tend to have features not found in the standard library (e.g., memory size tracking) or have more controllable performance characteristics.

A list of approved standard library headers is maintained in config/stl-headers.mozbuild.

Data structures

Name

Header

STL equivalent

Notes

nsAutoTArray

nsTArray.h

Like nsTArray, but will store a small amount as stack storage

nsAutoTObserverArray

nsTObserverArray.h

Like nsTObserverArray, but will store a small amount as stack storage

mozilla::BloomFilter

mozilla/BloomFilter.h

Probabilistic set membership (see Wikipedia)

nsClassHashtable

nsClassHashtable.h

Adaptation of nsTHashtable, see XPCOM Hashtable Guide

nsCOMArray

nsCOMArray.h

Like nsTArray<nsCOMPtr<T>>

nsDataHashtable

nsClassHashtable.h

std::unordered_map

Adaptation of nsTHashtable, see XPCOM Hashtable Guide

nsDeque

nsDeque.h

std::deque<void *>

mozilla::EnumSet

mozilla/EnumSet.h

Like std::set, but for enum classes.

mozilla::Hash{Map,Set}

mozilla/HashTable.h

std::unordered_{map,set}

A general purpose hash map and hash set.

nsInterfaceHashtable

nsInterfaceHashtable.h

std::unordered_map

Adaptation of nsTHashtable, see XPCOM Hashtable Guide

mozilla::LinkedList

mozilla/LinkedList.h

std::list

Doubly-linked list

nsRef PtrHashtable

nsRefPtrHashtable.h

std::unordered_map

Adaptation of nsTHashtable, see XPCOM Hashtable Guide

mozilla::SegmentedVector

mozilla/SegmentedVector.h

std::deque w/o O(1) pop_front

Doubly-linked list of vector elements

mozilla::SplayTree

mozilla/SplayTree.h

Quick access to recently-accessed elements (see Wikipedia)

nsTArray

nsTArray.h

std::vector

nsTHashtable

nsTHashtable.h

std::unordered_{map,set}

See XPCOM Hashtable Guide, you probably want a subclass

nsTObserverArray

nsTObserverArray.h

Like nsTArray, but iteration is stable even through mutation

nsTPriorityQueue

nsTPriorityQueue.h

std::priority_queue

Unlike the STL class, not a container adapter

mozilla::Vector

mozilla/Vector.h

std::vector

mozilla::Buffer

mozilla/Buffer.h

Unlike Array, has a run-time variable length. Unlike Vector, does not have capacity and growth mechanism. Unlike Span, owns its buffer.

Safety utilities

Name

Header

STL equivalent

Notes

mozilla::Array

mfbt/Array.h

safe array index

mozilla::AssertedCast

mfbt/Casting.h

casts

mozilla::CheckedInt

mfbt/CheckedInt.h

avoids overflow

nsCOMPtr

xpcom/base/nsCOMPtr.h

std::shared_ptr

mozilla::EnumeratedArray

mfbt/EnumeratedArray.h

mozilla::Array

mozilla::Maybe

mfbt/Maybe.h

std::optional

mozilla::RangedPtr

mfbt/RangedPtr.h

like mozilla::Span but with two pointers instead of pointer and length

mozilla::RefPtr

mfbt/RefPtr.h

std::shared_ptr

mozilla::Span

mozilla/Span.h

gsl::span, absl::Span, std::string_view, std::u16string_view

Rust’s slice concept for C++ (without borrow checking)

StaticRefPtr

xpcom/base/StaticPtr.h

nsRefPtr w/o static constructor

mozilla::UniquePtr

mfbt/UniquePtr.h

std::unique_ptr

mozilla::WeakPtr

mfbt/WeakPtr.h

std::weak_ptr

nsWeakPtr

xpcom/base/nsWeakPtr.h

std::weak_ptr

Strings

See the Mozilla internal string guide for usage of nsAString (our copy-on-write replacement for std::u16string) and nsACString (our copy-on-write replacement for std::string).

Be sure not to introduce further uses of std::wstring, which is not portable! (Some uses exist in the IPC code.)

Algorithms

mozilla::BinarySearch

mfbt/BinarySearch.h

mozilla::BitwiseCast

mfbt/Casting.h (strict aliasing-safe cast)

mozilla/MathAlgorithms.h

(rotate, ctlz, popcount, gcd, abs, lcm)

mozilla::RollingMean

mfbt/RollingMean.h ()

Concurrency

Name

Header

STL/boost equivalent

Notes

mozilla::Atomic

mfbt/Atomic.h

std::atomic

mozilla::CondVar

xpcom/threads/CondVar.h

std::condition_variable

mozilla::DataMutex

xpcom/threads/DataMutex.h

boost::synchronized_value

mozilla::Monitor

xpcom/threads/Monitor.h

mozilla::Mutex

xpcom/threads/Mutex.h

std::mutex

mozilla::ReentrantMonitor

xpcom/threads/ReentrantMonitor.h

mozilla::StaticMutex

xpcom/base/StaticMutex.h

std::mutex

Mutex that can (and in fact, must) be used as a global/static variable.

Miscellaneous

Name

Header

STL/boost equivalent

Notes

mozilla::AlignedStorage

mfbt/Alignment.h

std::aligned_storage

mozilla::MaybeOneOf

mfbt/MaybeOneOf.h

std::optional<std::variant<T1, T2>>

~ mozilla::Maybe<union {T1, T2}>

mozilla::Pair

mfbt/Pair.h

std::tuple<T1, T2>

minimal space!

mozilla::TimeStamp

xpcom/ds/TimeStamp.h

std::chrono::time_point

mozilla/PodOperations.h

C++ versions of memset, memcpy, etc.

mozilla/ArrayUtils.h

mozilla/Compression.h

mozilla/Endian.h

mozilla/FloatingPoint.h

mozilla/HashFunctions.h

std::hash

mozilla/Move.h

std::move, std::swap, std::forward

Mozilla data structures and standard C++ ranges and iterators

Some Mozilla-defined data structures provide STL-style iterators and are usable in range-based for loops as well as STL algorithms.

Currently, these include:

Name

Header

Bug(s)

Iterator category

Notes

nsTArray

xpcom/ds/n sTArray.h

1126552

Random-access

Also reverse-iterable. Also supports remove-erase pattern via RemoveElementsAt method. Also supports back-inserting output iterators via MakeBackInserter function.

nsBaseHashtable and subclasses: nsClassHashtable nsDataHashtable nsInterfaceHashtable nsJSThingHashtable nsRefPtrHashtable

xpcom/ds/nsBaseHashtable.h xpcom/ds/nsClassHashtable.h xpcom/ds/nsDataHashtable.h xpcom/ds/nsInterfaceHashtable.h xpcom/ds/nsJSThingHashtable.h xpcom/ds/nsRefPtrHashtable.h

1575479

Forward

nsCOMArray

xpcom/ds/nsCOMArray.h

1342303

Random-access

Also reverse-iterable.

Array EnumerationArray RangedArray

mfbt/Array.h mfbt/EnumerationArray.h mfbt/RangedArray.h

1216041

Random-access

Also reverse-iterable.

Buffer

mfbt/Buffer.h

1512155

Random-access

Also reverse-iterable.

DoublyLinkedList

mfbt/DoublyLinkedList.h

1277725

Forward

EnumeratedRange

mfbt/EnumeratedRange.h

1142999

Missing

Also reverse-iterable.

IntegerRange

mfbt/IntegerRange.h

1126701

Missing

Also reverse-iterable.

SmallPointerArray

mfbt/SmallPointerArray.h

1331718

Random-access

Span

mfbt/Span.h

1295611

Random-access

Also reverse-iterable.

Note that if the iterator category is stated as “missing”, the type is probably only usable in range-based for. This is most likely just an omission, which could be easily fixed.

Useful in this context are also the class template IteratorRange (which can be used to construct a range from any pair of iterators) and function template Reversed (which can be used to reverse any range), both defined in mfbt/ReverseIterator.h

Further C++ rules

Don’t use static constructors

(You probably shouldn’t be using global variables to begin with. Quite apart from the weighty software-engineering arguments against them, globals affect startup time! But sometimes we have to do ugly things.)

Non-portable example:

FooBarClass static_object(87, 92);

void
bar()
{
  if (static_object.count > 15) {
     ...
  }
}

Once upon a time, there were compiler bugs that could result in constructors not being called for global objects. Those bugs are probably long gone by now, but even with the feature working correctly, there are so many problems with correctly ordering C++ constructors that it’s easier to just have an init function:

static FooBarClass* static_object;

FooBarClass*
getStaticObject()
{
  if (!static_object)
    static_object =
      new FooBarClass(87, 92);
  return static_object;
}

void
bar()
{
  if (getStaticObject()->count > 15) {
    ...
  }
}

Don’t use exceptions

See the introduction to the “C++ language features” section at the start of this document.

Don’t use Run-time Type Information

See the introduction to the “C++ language features” section at the start of this document.

If you need runtime typing, you can achieve a similar result by adding a classOf() virtual member function to the base class of your hierarchy and overriding that member function in each subclass. If classOf() returns a unique value for each class in the hierarchy, you’ll be able to do type comparisons at runtime.

Don’t use the C++ standard library (including iostream and locale)

See the section “C++ and Mozilla standard libraries”.

Use C++ lambdas, but with care

C++ lambdas are supported across all our compilers now. Rejoice! We recommend explicitly listing out the variables that you capture in the lambda, both for documentation purposes, and to double-check that you’re only capturing what you expect to capture.

Use namespaces

Namespaces may be used according to the style guidelines in C++ Coding style.

Don’t mix varargs and inlines

What? Why are you using varargs to begin with?! Stop that at once!

Make header files compatible with C and C++

Non-portable example:

/*oldCheader.h*/
int existingCfunction(char*);
int anotherExistingCfunction(char*);

/* oldCfile.c */
#include "oldCheader.h"
...

// new file.cpp
extern "C" {
#include "oldCheader.h"
};
...

If you make new header files with exposed C interfaces, make the header files work correctly when they are included by both C and C++ files.

(If you need to include a C header in new C++ files, that should just work. If not, it’s the C header maintainer’s fault, so fix the header if you can, and if not, whatever hack you come up with will probably be fine.)

Portable example:

/* oldCheader.h*/
PR_BEGIN_EXTERN_C
int existingCfunction(char*);
int anotherExistingCfunction(char*);
PR_END_EXTERN_C

/* oldCfile.c */
#include "oldCheader.h"
...

// new file.cpp
#include "oldCheader.h"
...

There are number of reasons for doing this, other than just good style. For one thing, you are making life easier for everyone else, doing the work in one common place (the header file) instead of all the C++ files that include it. Also, by making the C header safe for C++, you document that “hey, this file is now being included in C++”. That’s a good thing. You also avoid a big portability nightmare that is nasty to fix…

Use override on subclass virtual member functions

The override keyword is supported in C++11 and in all our supported compilers, and it catches bugs.

Always declare a copy constructor and assignment operator

Many classes shouldn’t be copied or assigned. If you’re writing one of these, the way to enforce your policy is to declare a deleted copy constructor as private and not supply a definition. While you’re at it, do the same for the assignment operator used for assignment of objects of the same class. Example:

class Foo {
  ...
  private:
    Foo(const Foo& x) = delete;
    Foo& operator=(const Foo& x) = delete;
};

Any code that implicitly calls the copy constructor will hit a compile-time error. That way nothing happens in the dark. When a user’s code won’t compile, they’ll see that they were passing by value, when they meant to pass by reference (oops).

Be careful of overloaded methods with like signatures

It’s best to avoid overloading methods when the type signature of the methods differs only by one “abstract” type (e.g. PR_Int32 or int32). What you will find as you move that code to different platforms, is suddenly on the Foo2000 compiler your overloaded methods will have the same type-signature.

Type scalar constants to avoid unexpected ambiguities

Non-portable code:

class FooClass {
  // having such similar signatures
  // is a bad idea in the first place.
  void doit(long);
  void doit(short);
};

void
B::foo(FooClass* xyz)
{
  xyz->doit(45);
}

Be sure to type your scalar constants, e.g., uint32_t(10) or 10L. Otherwise, you can produce ambiguous function calls which potentially could resolve to multiple methods, particularly if you haven’t followed (2) above. Not all of the compilers will flag ambiguous method calls.

Portable code:

class FooClass {
  // having such similar signatures
  // is a bad idea in the first place.
  void doit(long);
  void doit(short);
};

void
B::foo(FooClass* xyz)
{
  xyz->doit(45L);
}

Use nsCOMPtr in XPCOM code

See the nsCOMPtr User Manual for usage details.

Don’t use identifiers that start with an underscore

This rule occasionally surprises people who’ve been hacking C++ for decades. But it comes directly from the C++ standard!

According to the C++ Standard, 17.4.3.1.2 Global Names [lib.global.names], paragraph 1:

Certain sets of names and function signatures are always reserved to the implementation:

  • Each name that contains a double underscore (__) or begins with an underscore followed by an uppercase letter (2.11) is reserved to the implementation for any use.

  • Each name that begins with an underscore is reserved to the implementation for use as a name in the global namespace.

Stuff that is good to do for C or C++

Avoid conditional #includes when possible

Don’t write an #include inside an #ifdef if you could instead put it outside. Unconditional includes are better because they make the compilation more similar across all platforms and configurations, so you’re less likely to cause stupid compiler errors on someone else’s favorite platform that you never use.

Bad code example:

#ifdef MOZ_ENABLE_JPEG_FOUR_BILLION
#include <stdlib.h>   // <--- don't do this
#include "jpeg4e9.h"  // <--- only do this if the header really might not be there
#endif

Of course when you’re including different system files for different machines, you don’t have much choice. That’s different.

Every .cpp source file should have a unique name

Every object file linked into libxul needs to have a unique name. Avoid generic names like nsModule.cpp and instead use nsPlacesModule.cpp.

Turn on warnings for your compiler, and then write warning free code

What generates a warning on one platform will generate errors on another. Turn warnings on. Write warning-free code. It’s good for you. Treat warnings as errors by adding ac_add_options --enable-warnings-as-errors to your mozconfig file.

Use the same type for all bitfields in a struct or class

Some compilers do not pack the bits when different bitfields are given different types. For example, the following struct might have a size of 8 bytes, even though it would fit in 1:

struct {
  char ch: 1;
  int i: 1;
};

Don’t use an enum type for a bitfield

The classic example of this is using PRBool for a boolean bitfield. Don’t do that. PRBool is a signed integer type, so the bitfield’s value when set will be -1 instead of +1, which—I know, crazy, right? The things C++ hackers used to have to put up with…

You shouldn’t be using PRBool anyway. Use bool. Bitfields of type bool are fine.

Enums are signed on some platforms (in some configurations) and unsigned on others and therefore unsuitable for writing portable code when every bit counts, even if they happen to work on your system.