exec/async_scope.hpp: "invalid use of void expression" in on_empty() with nvcc 12.9 and gcc-12 host compiler

[RohanOnKeys]

Including <exec/async_scope.hpp> fails to compile under nvcc with gcc-12 as the host compiler. We observed this in HPX's CUDA CI, where a .cu test pulls in the header through hpx/execution.hpp.

Environment

• nvcc: CUDA 12.9
• host compiler: gcc-12
• stdexec: main

Error
exec/async_scope.hpp:823-825
return when_empty(just());
error: invalid use of void expression

Observed in

• HPX CUDA CI: CUDA CI: thrust_policy_test.cu fails to build with nvcc 12.9 / gcc-12 due to stdexec async_scope.hpp TheHPXProject/hpx#7676
• HPX workaround (hides the async_scope include from nvcc): fix(stdexec): guard exec/async_scope.hpp from NVCC to fix CUDA CI TheHPXProject/hpx#7678

Standalone repro (not yet verified outside HPX CI)
// repro.cu
#include <exec/async_scope.hpp>
int main() {}

nvcc -std=c++20 -ccbin g++-12 -I<stdexec>/include -c repro.cu

Notes

• The same error on this line was reported as GCC bug 114393, so this may be a gcc-12 front-end problem that nvcc exposes.
• A similar nvcc failure in inline_scheduler (inline_scheduler's namespace-scope static_assert fails under nvcc (private nested __sender access) #2284) was fixed with a CUDACC guard in fix(stdexec): skip inline_scheduler's static_assert under nvcc #2288. This looks like a separate problem in async_scope.

Questions

• Is nvcc with gcc-12 a supported combination for exec/async_scope.hpp?
• Would a CUDACC guard or a workaround in on_empty() (for example an explicit return type) be acceptable, as in fix(stdexec): skip inline_scheduler's static_assert under nvcc #2288?