Classify leaves with operator<=> itself past the nesting bound

In C++20, an ordered comparison past the nesting bound classified a pair of
leaves by asking == first and then order_leaves(), which calls < and > -
both derived from <=>. For a pair of binary values with the same bytes but a
different subtype, == reports them unequal, while <=> (through
std::vector<std::uint8_t>::operator<=>) reports them equivalent, so the pair
ended the comparison as unordered instead of letting the next element
decide - unlike an array or object within the bound, which compares such a
pair with its own operator<=> and gets equivalent. So operator<=>, and the
<, <=, >, >= derived from it, could give a different result for the same two
values depending on how deeply the values were nested, or unordered at every
depth with JSON_NO_THREAD_LOCAL defined.

compare_leaves() now classifies such a pair in C++20 with operator<=> itself
instead, matching how a value within the bound is compared; the equality-only
and pre-C++20 ordered cases are unchanged. Which of the three runs is chosen
by overloading on std::integral_constant<bool, Ordered>, the same tag
dispatch order_leaves() already uses, rather than a runtime "if (Ordered)" on
a template parameter, which MSVC would flag as a constant condition (C4127).

Added a regression test to unit-comparison.cpp that nests such a pair 0, 127,
128 and 200 levels deep (127 stays within the 128-level bound, 128 and 200
do not) and checks that operator<=> and operator< agree at every depth.

Fixes #5654.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann
2026-09-29 23:20:26 +02:00
parent 633de8e44b
commit 3d3b90b05d
4 changed files with 154 additions and 3 deletions
+51 -1
View File
@@ -1307,15 +1307,65 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
*/
template<bool Ordered>
static compare_result compare_leaves(const_reference lhs, const_reference rhs) noexcept
{
return compare_leaves(lhs, rhs, std::integral_constant<bool, Ordered> {});
}
/// @brief compare two leaves that are only being checked for equality
static compare_result compare_leaves(const_reference lhs, const_reference rhs, std::false_type /*ordered*/) noexcept
{
if (lhs == rhs)
{
return compare_result::equal;
}
return order_leaves(lhs, rhs, std::integral_constant<bool, Ordered> {});
return order_leaves(lhs, rhs, std::false_type {});
}
#if JSON_HAS_THREE_WAY_COMPARISON
/*!
@brief compare two leaves that are being ordered, for operator<=>
Reached only from operator<=>, so the leaves must be classified exactly
as operator<=> classifies them - which is not the same as asking
== and then order_leaves(), the way the other overload does it. The two
disagree on a binary value: == also compares the subtype, but <=> compares
only the bytes, through std::vector<std::uint8_t>::operator<=>. Using <=>
itself here keeps a leaf pair classified the same way regardless of how
deep it is nested - == first would again call operator<=> a level down
through order_leaves(), but call it after a mismatching == already ended
the comparison for a pair that <=> alone would still call equivalent.
*/
static compare_result compare_leaves(const_reference lhs, const_reference rhs, std::true_type /*ordered*/) noexcept
{
const std::partial_ordering order = lhs <=> rhs; // *NOPAD*
if (order == 0)
{
return compare_result::equal;
}
if (order < 0)
{
return compare_result::less;
}
if (order > 0)
{
return compare_result::greater;
}
return compare_result::unordered;
}
#else
/// @brief compare two leaves that are being ordered, for operator<
static compare_result compare_leaves(const_reference lhs, const_reference rhs, std::true_type /*ordered*/) noexcept
{
if (lhs == rhs)
{
return compare_result::equal;
}
return order_leaves(lhs, rhs, std::true_type {});
}
#endif
/*!
@brief compare two object keys