VC6 and template error

Question

I am overloading operator << to implement a stream like interface for a class:

template<typename T>
CAudit& operator <<  ( const T& data ) {
    audittext << data;
    return *this;
}

CAudit& operator << ( LPCSTR data ) {
    audittext << data;
    return *this;
}

The template version fails to compile with "fatal error C1001: INTERNAL COMPILER ERROR (compiler file 'msc1.cpp', line 1794)". Non-template functions all compile correctly.

Is this due to VC6s deficiencies when handling templates and is there a way around this?

Thanks, Patrick

EDIT :

the full class is:

class CAudit
{
public:    
/* TODO_DEBUG : doesn't build! 
template<typename T>
CAudit& operator <<  ( const T& data ) {
    audittext << data;
    return *this;
}*/

~CAudit() { write(); }//If anything available to audit write it here

CAudit& operator << ( LPCSTR data ) {
    audittext << data;
    return *this;
}

//overload the << operator to allow function ptrs on rhs, allows "audit << data << CAudit::write;"
CAudit& operator << (CAudit & (*func)(CAudit &))
{
    return func(*this);
}

void write() {
}

//write() is a manipulator type func, "audit << data << CAudit::write;" will call this function
static CAudit& write(CAudit& audit) { 
    audit.write();
    return audit; 
}

private:
std::stringstream audittext;
};

The problem occurs with the function overload of operator << which is used to allow write() to be used as a stream manipulator:

CAudit audit
audit << "Billy" << write;

Answer 1

That overload of the template for function pointers surely is too much for good old Visual Studio 6. As a workaround you could define a type for your manipulator and overload operator<< for that type. Here's some code:

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <windows.h>

class CAudit {

    std::ostringstream audittext;
    void do_write() {}

public:
    ~CAudit() { do_write(); } 

    // types for manipulators
    struct Twrite {};

    // manipulators
    static Twrite write;

    // implementations of <<
    template<typename T>
        CAudit& operator <<  ( const T& data ) {
        audittext << data;
        return *this;
    }

    CAudit& operator <<  ( LPCSTR data ) {
        audittext << data;
        return *this;
    }

    CAudit& operator <<  ( Twrite& ) {
        do_write();
        return *this;
    }
};

// static member initialization
CAudit::Twrite CAudit::write;



int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    CAudit a;
    int i = 123;
    const char * s = "abc";

    a << i << s << CAudit::write;

    return 0;
}