http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=51365
--- Comment #10 from Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> 2011-12-11 13:39:20 UTC --- I haven't really thought about it either, but one advantage of depending on is_empty is that it prevents using the EBO for polymorphic classes, where derivation could have undesirable effects. That *shouldn't* be a problem as long as user-defined types don't have virtual functions using reserved names such as _M_get. Another problem could be user-defined types with a virtual base, if the tuple node type (which would be the most-derived type) doesn't know how to construct the virtual base. struct A { A(int) { } }; struct B : virtual A { B() : A(1) { } }; std::tuple<B> t; If tuple derived from B it couldn't construct the A subobject correctly.