At this code I was able to initialize the reference by itself, so actually it became an uninitialized reference:
#include <iostream> using namespace std; class t { public: t():x(x){x=0;cerr<<x<<endl;} int &x; }; int main() { t test; } I compiled this code with: g++ -W -Wall -ansi -pedantic my-test-code.cpp -o my-test-binary I got no errors (and also no warnings) executing ./my-test-binary gave a segmentation fault i...@most:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 9.04 Release: 9.04 Codename: jaunty i...@most:~$ gcc -v Using built-in specs. Target: i486-linux-gnu Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Ubuntu 4.3.3-5ubuntu4' --with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-4.3/README.Bugs --enable-languages=c,c++,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr --enable-shared --with-system-zlib --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext --enable-threads=posix --enable-nls --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.3 --program-suffix=-4.3 --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-objc-gc --enable-mpfr --enable-targets=all --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release --build=i486-linux-gnu --host=i486-linux-gnu --target=i486-linux-gnu Thread model: posix gcc version 4.3.3 (Ubuntu 4.3.3-5ubuntu4) -- Summary: reference can be initialized by itself Product: gcc Version: 4.3.3 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c++ AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: pentek dot imre at gmail dot com GCC build triplet: i486-linux-gnu GCC host triplet: i486-linux-gnu GCC target triplet: i486-linux-gnu http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=40293