I dug into this question b/c I noticed that in plugin.thrift, the t_const_value seemed to not be behaving as a union should. To wit, it seems that in the case of a type like
struct Foo { 1: required Enum E x = E.A } (for some enum E), the t_const_value that represents the initializer, ends up having both a "identifier_val" and an "enum_val". And yet, in plugin.thrift, it's a UNION. So looking further, it seems that the (at least C++) code of a union, e.g. union Bar { 1: i32 a ; 2: string b; } DOES NOT enforce the rule (from https://thrift.apache.org/docs/idl) that Unions are similar to structs, except that they provide a means to transport exactly one field of a possible set of fields, just like union {} in C++. Consequently, union members are implicitly considered optional (see requiredness). In no way, is there any enforcement of "exactly one field". It seems to me that this needs fixing. But it's a possibly- breaking change. I can starting fixing it in C++, Python, Ocaml, and a few other languages. Should I do so? --chet--