VC++ bug: std::unique_ptr with std::is_same<element_type, pointer>::value == true

broken_vcxx.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>

int main() {
    struct my_type {
        void poke() { std::cout << "poke\n"; }
    };
    typedef my_type* my_type_ptr;

    struct my_deleter {
        typedef my_type_ptr pointer;
        void operator()(my_type_ptr p) { delete p; }
    };

    typedef std::unique_ptr<my_type_ptr, my_deleter> my_unique_ptr;

    my_unique_ptr x(new my_type);
    x->poke();
    
    return 0;
}

see online demo (GCC)

VS2013: The culprit seems to be std::unique_ptr::operator->():

pointer operator->() const _NOEXCEPT
    {
    return (_STD pointer_traits<pointer>::pointer_to(**this));
    }

The C++ standard does not mandate this unnecessary complex implementation. Quoting the latest working draft (N4296) §20.8.1.2.4 unique_ptr observers:

pointer operator->() const noexcept;
(3) Requires: get() != nullptr.
(4) Returns: get().

VC++'s std::unique_ptr::get() looks like this:

pointer get() const _NOEXCEPT
    {
    return (this->_Myptr);
    }

GCC and LLVM both use the obvious (and actually working) implementation of std::unique_ptr::operator->(), that would look like this in VC++:

pointer operator->() const _NOEXCEPT
    {
    return (this->_Myptr);
    }