pybind / pybind/pybind11

[BUG]: Description of is_fmt_numeric does not match actual behavior

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Description

Required prerequisites
What version (or hash if on master) of pybind11 are you using?

75e48c5f959b4f0a49d8c664e059b6fb4b497102

Problem description

The description of is_fmt_numeric states (in comments):

Note that the long double types only participate when long double is actually longer than double (it isn't under MSVC).

However this isn't what actually happens, because std::is_same<double, long double>::value is false even when sizeof(double) == sizeof(long double), as is indeed the case with MSVC on x86_64:
https://godbolt.org/z/xdd135a8T

Likewise, std::is_same<int, long>::value is false even when sizeof(int) == sizeof(long). This is presumably why platform_lookup uses sizeof rather than std::is_same to check type equivalence.

I'm not sure whether the correct solution here is to update the description to match actual behavior, or rather change the behavior to match the description.

Reproducible example code
int main() {
    std::cerr << sizeof(float) << ' ' << detail::is_fmt_numeric<float>::index << std::endl;
    std::cerr << sizeof(double) << ' ' << detail::is_fmt_numeric<double>::index << std::endl;
    std::cerr << sizeof(long double) << ' ' << detail::is_fmt_numeric<long double>::index << std::endl;
};

// expected output:
// 4 9
// 8 10
// 8 10

// actual output:
// 4 9
// 8 10
// 8 11
Is this a regression? Put the last known working version here if it is.

Not a regression

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the is_fmt_numeric description and implementation, then compare its type checks with platform_lookup, which the report identifies as using sizeof. Reproduce the float, double, and long double indices from the example on MSVC or the linked Compiler Explorer case, and resolve whether the implementation or comment should change with coverage for the intended behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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