Re: critical bugs in charconv

From: Matt Borland (matt_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-02-05 07:43:03

> Another example.
> I had asked for a TypeTrait is_integer and also supplied code for it (https://github.com/boostorg/type_traits/issues/186).
> The point is that is_integer only returns integer (no character, no bool).
> John immediately closed my request "We are not responsible for that".
> 

His response was certainly more nuanced than that. Users are allowed to overload Boost.TypeTraits without it being UB like adding additional overloads in namespace std.

> Instead of admitting a mistake (of course I make some myself) and saying "we forgot/didn't think of it, we'll do it", the only answer is "we don't care".
> That's thinking from the wallpaper to the wall.
> As I said, boost used to be progressive, but now when you make a suggestion, all you get is "We're not responsible for that/we're not interested in that/we might have to change something that's not possible"
> 

Again, every-time we do not incorporate your suggestions we try and provide you with valid reasoning. Many of the libraries can't advance their language standard because 1 user says so. Since your other emails have been vocal about the supposed deficiencies in Math we don't like to make change for the sake of change. Math is at C++14, and will remain that way for the foreseeable future because that's what our large consumers use.

> And this even with such a simple TypeTrait. Single file. No dependencies.
> And on the other hand, libraries with the most severe buffer overflows (charchonv) are included, where obviously no tests are carried out at all.
> 

See: https://github.com/cppalliance/charconv/pull/153.

Matt