C++ error: invalid use of ‘::’ for `std::cout` - c++

Question

This is probably the weirdest thing I have seen in the last few years.
I have a project that builds perfectly well in two completely different machines (openSUSE Tumbleweed and ubuntu 14.04).
I started with a new machine using kubuntu 16.04 and this error started happening:
$ g++ -std=c++14 cout_qualif.cpp -lpng -o cout_qualif
In file included from cout_qualif.cpp:1:0:
debug_utils.h:19:19: error: invalid use of ‘::’
# define msg std::cout
Clang also points an error, but with a quite different message:
$ clang -std=c++14 cout_qualif.cpp -lpng -o cout_qualif
In file included from cout_qualif.cpp:3:
In file included from /usr/include/png++/png.hpp:34:
In file included from /usr/include/png.h:317:
/usr/include/zlib.h:94:19: error: non-friend class member 'cout' cannot have a qualified name
z_const char *msg; /* last error message, NULL if no error */
^~~
./debug_utils.h:19:19: note: expanded from macro 'msg'
# define msg std::cout
~~~~~^
1 error generated.
The simplest test code I've came across is:
#include <iostream>
#include "debug_utils.h"
#include <png++/png.hpp>
int main()
{
msg << "Start" << std::endl;
png::image< png::rgb_pixel > image("input.png");
image.write("output.png");
msg << "Finish" << std::endl;
return 0;
}
And "debug_utils.h":
#ifndef DEBUG_UTILS_H
#define DEBUG_UTILS_H
#include <iostream>
# define msg std::cout
#endif // DEBUG_UTILS_H
It turns out that "png.h" includes "zlib.h" and there is defined a struct:
typedef struct z_stream_s {
// ...
z_const char *msg; /* last error message, NULL if no error */
This msg member is what is triggering the error. If I move my #include "debug_utils.h" one line below, after #include <png++/png.hpp>, everything seems to work fine.
Now finally the question:
Why this machine cannot compile my code while two other can?
Additional info:
Kubuntu 16.04:
$ g++ --version
g++ (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 5.4.0 20160609
$ clang --version
clang version 3.8.0-2ubuntu4 (tags/RELEASE_380/final)
openSUSE Tumbleweed:
g++ is 7.1.1
Ubuntu 14.04:
Exact version not available at hand but I believe it is 4.9.x

Answer 1

To recap the cause of the problem
# define msg std::cout
in debug_utils.h substitutes std::cout for any instances of msg throughout the code after debug_utils.h is included. As msg is a common short identifier, particularly for a message buffer, an unintended substitution has always been a risk lurking in the code. The solution to this is obvious: Don't do that. Use a longer, less likely to be duplicated substitution or don't do it at all and replace the macro. Without seeing your usecase I'd probably replace the macro with a function that returns the correct stream and the compiler can easily inline.
The confusion and the question stems from why an error from the macro substitution only arises from a simple piece of test code when compiled on only one of three candidate PCs.
The answer is differences in the toolchain and support libraries. For one reason or another, on only one of these PCs a third-party header that uses the msg identifier is included by a third-party header included by the test program. The other two follow different inclusion paths to build the same program and avoid tripping over the unwanted substitution.