------- Comment #7 from s dot franke at bebbosoft dot de 2010-03-03 19:26 ------- The C++ Standard says: 3.4 Name lookup
The name lookup rules apply uniformly to all names (including typedef-names (7.1.3), namespace-names (7.3) and class-names (9.1)) wherever the grammar allows such names in the context discussed by a particular rule. Name lookup associates the use of a name with a declaration (3.1) of that name. Name lookup shall find an unambiguous declaration for the name (see 10.2). ..." The use of a base class ( class B : A ) is not a declaration of A. Thus the base class ( class A ) is visible and not private. Reopen the bug and fix it. Thanks SF -- http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20397
