Serial::available() not const

[xico42]

Is there any reason for Serial::available() method not being defined as const?

when in do this:

    class SerialTransport
    {
         public:
            ...
            size_t bytesAvailable() const;
            ...
     };

    size_t SerialTransport::bytesAvailable() const
    {
         return serial_port_.available();
    }

i get the error:
(in clang) member function 'available' not viable: 'this' argument has type 'const serial::Serial'

(in gcc) error: passing 'const serial::Serial' as 'this' argument of 'std::size_t serial::Serial::available' discards qualifiers [-fpermissive]
return serial_port_.available();

but if i define Serial::available() const in serial.cc, serial.h, also in the impl, it compiles.

[bakercp]

Seems like a good idea to me, assuming the underlying implementations are const.

[wjwwood]

Seems reasonable to me too, but I don't want to break API/ABI, so I labeled it as "Next API Change" and I'll try to do it then.