C++26 ballot fails; committee heavyweight calls for exit from ISO process

blelbach · x · 2026-10-25

Bryce Lelbach, a prominent C++ standardization figure, announced that the C++26 ballot has failed — "disappointed but not surprised."

He describes a two-year pattern of arcane process being used to avoid or silence the will of the majority, arguing the C++ standardization process has been broken for a long time and is getting worse.
His prescription is radical: C++ leadership should exit ISO and establish its own open and fair standardization process — one of the most open calls for institutional rupture in the C++ community in years, with far-reaching implications for the systems-programming ecosystem.

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