http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=51385
--- Comment #1 from Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> 2011-12-02 10:36:14 UTC --- Here's a version which isn't a compile-time-hog but demonstrates the unnecessary instantiation with a static_assert (so needs -std=c++11) template <unsigned N> struct NTmpl; template <typename T, typename U, typename V = NTmpl<sizeof(T *)> > struct PtrConvs { enum { bad = 1 }; }; template <typename Target, typename Source> struct PtrConvs<Target, Source, NTmpl<sizeof (*(Target **)0 = (Source *)0)> >; template<typename T> struct test { static const bool value = true; }; template<> struct test<short> { static const bool value = false; }; template <typename T> struct FussyTemplate { static_assert( test<T>::value, "not short" ); }; struct B { }; typedef char chk[1]; typedef char chk[PtrConvs<FussyTemplate<short>, B>::bad]; EFG and Clang compile this happily, without instantiating FussyTemplate<short>