C++ Compiler Error C2280 "attempting to reference a deleted function" in Visual Studio 2013 and 2015

Question

This snippet is compiled without errors in Visual Studio 2013 (Version 12.0.31101.00 Update 4)

class A
{
public:
   A(){}
   A(A &&){}
};

int main(int, char*)
{
   A a;
   new A(a);
   return 0;
}

while it is compiled with this error in Visual Studio 2015 RC (Version 14.0.22823.1 D14REL):

1>------ Build started: Project: foo, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
1>  foo.cpp
1>c:\dev\foo\foo.cpp(11): error C2280: 'A::A(const A &)': attempting to reference a deleted function
1>  c:\dev\foo\foo.cpp(6): note: compiler has generated 'A::A' here
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

I think that the compiler shipped with Visual Studio 2015 generates the Copy Constructor and marks it as =delete and so I get the error C2280 (which, by the way, I cannot find documented on msdn.microsoft.com).

Now, let's say I have a codebase which is compilable with Visual Studio 2013 (and it works because it relies on the code generated automatically by the compiler) but not compilable with Visual Studio 2015 due to C2280, how can I fix the problem?

I was thinking to declare class A in this way:

class A
{
public:
   A(){}
   A(A &&){}
   A(const A&)=default;
};

am I missing something?

Answer 1

From [class.copy]/7, emphasis mine:

If the class definition does not explicitly declare a copy constructor, a non-explicit one is declared implicitly. If the class definition declares a move constructor or move assignment operator, the implicitly declared copy constructor is defined as deleted; otherwise, it is defined as defaulted (8.4). The latter case is deprecated if the class has a user-declared copy assignment operator or a user-declared destructor.

There is an equivalent section with similar wording for copy assignment in paragraph 18. So your class is really:

class A
{
public:
   // explicit
   A(){}
   A(A &&){}

   // implicit
   A(const A&) = delete;
   A& operator=(const A&) = delete;
};

which is why you can't copy-construct it. If you provide a move constructor/assignment, and you still want the class to be copyable, you will have to explicitly provide those special member functions:

    A(const A&) = default;
    A& operator=(const A&) = default;

You will also need to declare a move assignment operator. If you really have a need for these special functions, you will also probably need the destructor. See Rule of Five.