Re: [boost] backward compatibility

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-03-16 11:47:19

At 08:49 AM 3/16/2001, Toon Knapen wrote:

 >Jens Maurer wrote:
 >>
 >> Beyond the points mentioned, I believe a version macro could be
 >> useful on a user-level:
 >I've looked at the older messages but do'nt find
 >reasons in favor of having a BOOST_VERSION define
 >
 >>
 >> #if BOOST_VERSION < 0102101
 >> #error This program needs boost 1.21.1 or later
 >> #endif
 >>
 >> The version macro should only rarely be used to provide
 >> backward compatibility in user programs, since boost libraries
 >> should try to be source-level backward compatible.
 >
 >Thus backward-compatibility should not be an issue.

Most of the time for most libraries.  But these are development libraries. 
They do sometimes break backward compatibility.  If an interface is broken, 
we want to be able to fix it.  A major release might do a lot of that.

--Beman