[boost] A set of individual libraries vs. One big library

Subject: [boost] A set of individual libraries vs. One big library
From: Anis Benyelloul (anis.benyelloul_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-01-19 11:03:49

Hello,

I was wondering if there was any interest into making the boost libraries
more ``independent''?

Boost contains many libraries with very different application domains. In
most cases you'll want to use only one/two libraries in your project
(without having to carry the whole boost code base around). But:

- The files in the boost tarball are organized as if boost was a single big
library: All the headers in `/boost' and all the source files together ...
etc
- The header file dependencies are unclear... it makes very difficult to
``extract'' just the library you need from the tarball (it is not enough to
copy the directory whose name matches the library you want)

It would be nice to handle this in a way similar to how ``packages'' are
handled on modern Linux systems:

- Each library (header+source+doc+test/..) in one directory/package (instead
of having all the headers from all the libraries in the same dir, and all
the tests in the same directory, all the documentation in another... etc)
- A clear/automated way to handle dependencies between packages. This would
help spot the ``common services'' (like boost.config) that so many libraries
rely on.

I think having the tarball organized in terms of individual libraries
(instead of a single big one) should be the default as it make more sens
from a user perspective.

What do you think?

Reguards,

- Anis