C99 designator member outside of aggregate initializer - c++

Question

struct Foo {
char a[10];
int b;
};
static Foo foo = {.a="bla"};
Compiling the above code gives the following gcc error:
$ gcc -std=gnu++2a test.cpp
C99 designator ‘a’ outside aggregate initializer
I thought that c-string designators in initializer list like these are ok in C++20? What am I missing? I am using gcc version 10.

Answer 1

This is a known bug with GCC: https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55227
Unfortunately, you will have to either not use designated initializers or use a different initializer for the array:
static Foo foo = {"bla"};
static Foo foo = {.a={'b', 'l', 'a', 0}};

Answer 2

I got the same error and I dealt with mv my.cpp my.c
You also can find answer in this link:
https://pcbartists.com/firmware/esp32-firmware/designator-outside-aggregate-initializer-solved/
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C"
{
#endif
// C code goes here
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

Answer 3

I use strncpy (from <cstring>), for example:
strncpy(foo.str, "hello", sizeof(foo_t::str));
It seems to be optimized away, therefore generating the same assembly as normal approach in newer GCC (11.3^) and the same as using Artyer solution (the accepted one) of using char array.
Godbolt link: https://godbolt.org/z/9G7b6PT9b
However, the solution might cause warning: missing initializer for member 'foo_t::str' [-Wmissing-field-initializers] if you have the -Wextra warnings enable, but you can use -Wno-missing-field-initializers to exclude it.
By the way, with stucts like that you always have to remember the space is limited, and in many cases you might want leave trailing zero for string end. Using strncpy you can force that by adding:
foo.str[sizeof(foo_t::str) - 1] = 0;