Re: [boost] [Release 1.34] Supported Compilers

From: Reece Dunn (msclrhd_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-01-31 04:26:01

AlisdairM wrote:
>Jeff Garland wrote:
>
> > I understand, but that just means 1.34 will be delayed for fixes to
> > these outdated relics and new lousy compilers.  We would be better
> > making a clean break now and letting folks with old compilers stick
> > with 1.33.1.
>
>That is harsh for Borland users.
>The new compiler was released AFTER 1.33.1, with which needs to update
>several workarounds and then config file before compiling as well as
>BCB6.

Perhapse it would be useful to ship updates that will update Boost.Config 
and Boost.Build to support the newer compilers.

>If 1.34 does not support Borland either you are really hurting these
>people, as they have a shiny new improved compiler, but no Boost
>support and three choices:

Boost currently (partially) supports the Borland compiler. If support for 
the new compiler isn't there, it would be useful to submit a patch to update 
Boost.Config correctly.

I know that the Octonion/Quaternion library failed to compile on older 
versions due to a strange preprocessor bug. It has been mentioned that the 
new version fixes a lot of preprocessor issues, so can these libraries be 
compiled properly now?

>I will happily assist library maintainers hunting down and eradicating
>support for older Borland compilers, so long as the most recent is
>supported (until such time that 'most recent' is reasonably conforming
>and no longer auto-deprecated when a new compiler is released)

I would say that dropping VC6 and GCC2.95 are good choices as these are 
already supported in the older versions of Boost, so the issue outlined 
above doesn't apply to these compilers.

However, dropping support for the Borland compilers (even though I hasven't 
used them for a long while now) is a different matter, because it applies to 
the entire compiler chain. I don't agree that Boost should drop all support 
for the Borland compilers. For those libraries that do support Borland 
compilers, it would make sense to drop support for BCB5 as this is similar 
to dropping support for VC6.

- Reece