is there a reason why std::make_shared would require a default constructor?

Question

I'm trying to figure out if this is a requirement from cereal or not.

I keep getting errors that class Constructors (default ones) are private, which I've put there for a reason.

However, the originating line for the error, seems to be, std::make_shared, rather than cereal, which requires a default constructor, but is already a friend class, and should therefore have access to it.

/usr/include/c++/4.7/type_traits: In instantiation of ‘struct std::__is_default_constructible_impl<Concept>’:
/usr/include/c++/4.7/type_traits:116:12:   required from ‘struct std::__and_<std::__not_<std::is_void<Concept> >, std::__is_default_constructible_impl<Concept> >’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/type_traits:682:12:   required from ‘struct std::__is_default_constructible_atom<Concept>’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/type_traits:703:12:   required from ‘struct std::__is_default_constructible_safe<Concept, false>’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/type_traits:709:12:   required from ‘struct std::is_default_constructible<Concept>’
/usr/local/include/cereal/types/polymorphic.hpp:157:5:   required by substitution of ‘template<class Archive, class T> typename std::enable_if<((! std::is_default_constructible<T>::value) && (! has_load_and_allocate<T, Archive>())), bool>::type cereal::polymorphic_detail::serialize_wrapper(Archive&, std::shared_ptr<_Tp2>&, uint32_t) [with Archive = cereal::XMLInputArchive; T = Concept]’
/usr/local/include/cereal/types/polymorphic.hpp:253:5:   [ skipping 16 instantiation contexts ]
/usr/include/c++/4.7/bits/shared_ptr_base.h:525:8:   required from ‘std::__shared_count<_Lp>::__shared_count(std::_Sp_make_shared_tag, _Tp*, const _Alloc&, _Args&& ...) [with _Tp = SemanticGraph<Concept>; _Alloc = std::allocator<SemanticGraph<Concept> >; _Args = {const char (&)[16]}; __gnu_cxx::_Lock_policy _Lp = (__gnu_cxx::_Lock_policy)2u]’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/bits/shared_ptr_base.h:997:35:   required from ‘std::__shared_ptr<_Tp, _Lp>::__shared_ptr(std::_Sp_make_shared_tag, const _Alloc&, _Args&& ...) [with _Alloc = std::allocator<SemanticGraph<Concept> >; _Args = {const char (&)[16]}; _Tp = SemanticGraph<Concept>; __gnu_cxx::_Lock_policy _Lp = (__gnu_cxx::_Lock_policy)2u]’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/bits/shared_ptr.h:317:64:   required from ‘std::shared_ptr<_Tp>::shared_ptr(std::_Sp_make_shared_tag, const _Alloc&, _Args&& ...) [with _Alloc = std::allocator<SemanticGraph<Concept> >; _Args = {const char (&)[16]}; _Tp = SemanticGraph<Concept>]’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/bits/shared_ptr.h:599:39:   required from ‘std::shared_ptr<_Tp1> std::allocate_shared(const _Alloc&, _Args&& ...) [with _Tp = SemanticGraph<Concept>; _Alloc = std::allocator<SemanticGraph<Concept> >; _Args = {const char (&)[16]}]’
/usr/include/c++/4.7/bits/shared_ptr.h:615:42:   required from ‘std::shared_ptr<_Tp1> std::make_shared(_Args&& ...) [with _Tp = SemanticGraph<Concept>; _Args = {const char (&)[16]}]’
/home/alex/projects/Icarus/trunk/Api/ConnectionHandler/../../Processes/Controller/../../Datatypes/Domain/../../Handlers/SemanticNodeFactory/SemanticNodeFactory.hpp:34:82:   required from here
/home/alex/projects/Icarus/trunk/Api/ConnectionHandler/../../Processes/Controller/../../Datatypes/Domain/../Episode/../State/../ConceptGraph/../Concept/Concept.hpp:27:5: error: ‘Concept::Concept()’ is private

Can someone please explain to me why this is happening, and more importantly, how could it be resolved, aside from making those constructors public?

EDIT:

originating error line is from:

concept_map  = std::make_shared<SemanticGraph<Concept>>( "concept_map.xml" );

Where SemanticGraph Ctor is:

    SemanticGraph
    (
      const std::string filename
    )
    : 
      _fname ( filename )
    {
      std::ifstream input( _fname );
      if ( input.is_open() )
      {
       cereal::XMLInputArchive archive( input );
       archive( _nodes );
      }
    }

Answer 1

C++ used to not consider access control when instantiating templates, except to produce an error if needed. The compiler you're using still uses those rules. Because of that, your class is not considered not-default-constructible. Instead, the check itself is impossible.

GCC 4.8 and higher do support this. A simple demonstration program that succeeds with 4.8, and fails with 4.7 is:

#include <type_traits>

class S { S() {} };

int main() {
  return std::is_default_constructible<S>::value;
}

In 4.8, this returns 0. In 4.7, this produces a compile-time error.

To resolve this, make sure you don't have a default constructor, not even a private one. You can add a dummy argument to your constructor, and make sure to always pass that dummy argument.