Compiler Error C2299

'function' : behavior change: an explicit specialization can not be a copy constructor or copy assignment operator

This error can also be generated as a result of compiler conformance work that was done for Visual C++ 2005: previous versions of Visual C++ allowed explicit specializations for a copy constructor or a copy assignment operator.

To resolve C2299, do not make the copy constructor or assignment operator a template function, but rather a non-template function that takes a class type. Any code that calls the copy constructor or assignment operator by explicitly specifying the template arguments needs to remove the template arguments.

The following sample generates C2299:

// C2299.cpp
// compile with: /c
class C {
   template <class T>
   C (T t);

   template <> C (const C&);   // C2299
   C (const C&);   // OK
};