How to ensure constexpr function never called at runtime?

In C++20 you can just replace constexpr by consteval to enforce a function to be always evaluated at compile time.

Example:

          int    rt_function(int v){ return v; }
constexpr int rt_ct_function(int v){ return v; }
consteval int    ct_function(int v){ return v; }

int main(){
    constexpr int ct_value = 1; // compile value
    int           rt_value = 2; // runtime value

    int a = rt_function(ct_value);
    int b = rt_ct_function(ct_value);
    int c = ct_function(ct_value);

    int d = rt_function(rt_value);
    int e = rt_ct_function(rt_value);
    int f = ct_function(rt_value); // ERROR: runtime value

    constexpr int g = rt_function(ct_value); // ERROR: runtime function
    constexpr int h = rt_ct_function(ct_value);
    constexpr int i = ct_function(ct_value);
}

---

Pre C++20 workaround

You can enforce the use of it in a constant expression:

#include<utility>

template<typename T, T V>
constexpr auto ct() { return V; }

template<typename T>
constexpr auto func() {
    return ct<decltype(std::declval<T>().value()), T{}.value()>();
}

template<typename T>
struct S {
    constexpr S() {}
    constexpr T value() { return T{}; }
};

template<typename T>
struct U {
    U() {}
    T value() { return T{}; }
};

int main() {
    func<S<int>>();
    // won't work
    //func<U<int>>();
}

By using the result of the function as a template argument, you got an error if it can't be solved at compile-time.

A theoretical solution (as templates should be Turing complete) - don't use constexpr functions and fall back onto the good-old std=c++0x style of computing using exclusively struct template with values. For example, don't do

constexpr uintmax_t fact(uint n) {
  return n>1 ? n*fact(n-1) : (n==1 ? 1 : 0);
}

but

template <uint N> struct fact {
  uintmax_t value=N*fact<N-1>::value;
}
template <> struct fact<1>
  uintmax_t value=1;
}
template <> struct fact<0>
  uintmax_t value=0;
}

The struct approach is guaranteed to be evaluated exclusively at compile time.

The fact the guys at boost managed to do a compile time parser is a strong signal that, albeit tedious, this approach should be feasible - it's a one-off cost, maybe one can consider it an investment.

---

For example:

to power struct:

// ***Warning: note the unusual order of (power, base) for the parameters
// *** due to the default val for the base
template <unsigned long exponent, std::uintmax_t base=10>
struct pow_struct
{
private:
  static constexpr uintmax_t at_half_pow=pow_struct<exponent / 2, base>::value;
public:
  static constexpr uintmax_t value=
      at_half_pow*at_half_pow*(exponent % 2 ? base : 1)
  ;
};

// not necessary, but will cut the recursion one step
template <std::uintmax_t base>
struct pow_struct<1, base>
{
  static constexpr uintmax_t value=base;
};


template <std::uintmax_t base>
struct pow_struct<0,base>
{
  static constexpr uintmax_t value=1;
};

The build token

template <uint vmajor, uint vminor, uint build>
struct build_token {
  constexpr uintmax_t value=
       vmajor*pow_struct<9>::value 
     + vminor*pow_struct<6>::value 
     + build_number
  ;
}