Stop requiring an out of class definition for version traits

include/boost/archive/basic_archive.hpp

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class version_type {
 public:
     // should be private - but MPI fails if it's not!!!
     version_type(): t(0) {}
-    explicit version_type(const unsigned int & t_) : t(t_){
+    explicit version_type(const unsigned int t_) : t(t_){
         BOOST_ASSERT(t_ <= boost::integer_traits<base_type>::const_max);
     }
     version_type(const version_type & t_) :
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class object_id_type {
     object_id_type(): t(0) {}
     // note: presumes that size_t >= unsigned int.
     // use explicit cast to silence useless warning
-    explicit object_id_type(const std::size_t & t_) : t(static_cast<base_type>(t_)){
+    explicit object_id_type(const std::size_t t_) : t(static_cast<base_type>(t_)){
         // make quadruple sure that we haven't lost any real integer
         // precision
         BOOST_ASSERT(t_ <= boost::integer_traits<base_type>::const_max);

test/Jamfile.v2

@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ test-suite "serialization" :
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_unique_ptr ]
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_valarray ]
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_variant : A ]
+     [ test-bsl-run_files test_version_value_type ]
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_vector : A ]
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_shared_ptr ]
      [ test-bsl-run_files test_shared_ptr_multi_base ]

test/test_version_value_type.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/////////1/////////2/////////3/////////4/////////5/////////6/////////7/////////8
+// test_version_value_type.cpp
+
+// Copyright 2026 Gennaro Prota.
+// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
+// (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
+// http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
+
+//  See http://www.boost.org for updates, documentation, and revision history.
+
+// A version trait written by hand has to work whichever integer type it
+// names for its value.  The library declares the trait as an int, but
+// nothing stops a user from writing unsigned int, and doing so used to
+// leave the value with no definition to link against: it was passed to
+// version_type through a reference, which made a definition necessary.
+
+// Reported by LowLevelMahn in
+// https://github.com/boostorg/serialization/issues/311, together with a
+// self contained example which linked with one integer type and not with
+// the other.  Thanks!
+
+// Note that this only ever failed on compilers which do not fold the
+// constant away, so it links either way on some of them.
+
+#include <cstddef>
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <fstream>
+
+#include <boost/config.hpp>
+#if defined(BOOST_NO_STDC_NAMESPACE)
+namespace std{
+    using ::remove;
+}
+#endif
+
+#include <boost/serialization/nvp.hpp>
+#include <boost/serialization/version.hpp>
+
+#include "test_tools.hpp"
+
+// the value spelled the way the library spells it
+struct signed_version {
+    int value;
+};
+
+// and spelled the way the report did, which is what used to fail
+template<typename T, std::size_t N>
+struct unsigned_version {
+    int value;
+};
+
+namespace boost {
+namespace serialization {
+
+template<>
+struct version<signed_version>
+{
+    BOOST_STATIC_CONSTANT(int, value = 1);
+};
+
+// a partial specialization, as in the report
+template<typename T, std::size_t N>
+struct version<unsigned_version<T, N> >
+{
+    BOOST_STATIC_CONSTANT(unsigned int, value = 2);
+};
+
+template<class Archive>
+void serialize(Archive & ar, signed_version & t, const unsigned int file_version){
+    BOOST_CHECK(1 == file_version);
+    ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(t.value);
+}
+
+template<class Archive, typename T, std::size_t N>
+void serialize(
+    Archive & ar,
+    unsigned_version<T, N> & t,
+    const unsigned int file_version
+){
+    BOOST_CHECK(2 == file_version);
+    ar & BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(t.value);
+}
+
+} // namespace serialization
+} // namespace boost
+
+typedef unsigned_version<int, 3> unsigned_version_type;
+
+int
+test_main(int /* argc */, char * /* argv */ [])
+{
+    const char * testfile = boost::archive::tmpnam(NULL);
+    BOOST_REQUIRE(NULL != testfile);
+
+    {
+        signed_version a;
+        a.value = 11;
+        unsigned_version_type b;
+        b.value = 22;
+        test_ostream os(testfile, TEST_STREAM_FLAGS);
+        test_oarchive oa(os, TEST_ARCHIVE_FLAGS);
+        oa << BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(a);
+        oa << BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(b);
+    }
+    {
+        signed_version a;
+        a.value = 0;
+        unsigned_version_type b;
+        b.value = 0;
+        test_istream is(testfile, TEST_STREAM_FLAGS);
+        test_iarchive ia(is, TEST_ARCHIVE_FLAGS);
+        ia >> BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(a);
+        ia >> BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(b);
+        BOOST_CHECK(11 == a.value);
+        BOOST_CHECK(22 == b.value);
+    }
+
+    std::remove(testfile);
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}