public aliases to private/package symbols

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Timon Gehr" <timon.gehr at gmx.ch> wrote in message 
news:jfnsne$10re$1 at digitalmars.com...
> On 01/25/2012 03:56 AM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>>
>> There's no need for special cases. Just don't go de-aliasing symbols. 
>> That
>> takes care of everything.
>>
>
> It does not.
>
> private class A{
>     static A factory();
> }
>
> public alias A B;
>
> What is typeof(B.factory()) ?
>

That's not a problem that's specific to alias. It's symptomatic of a more 
general access issue (instances of private types exposed in a public 
interface) that is *not* solved by prohibiting access-expanding aliases:

private class A{
    static A factory();
}

public class B{
    A foo() { return A.factory(); }
}

In another module:

typeof((new B()).foo()) // What should happen?

If "public alias A B" must be banned due to tough accessibility questions, 
then so must "class B". Point is, it's not an issue specific to alias.