Re: [boost] Re: Why Jam?

From: Ross Smith (r-smith_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-03-01 13:25:06

John Maddock wrote:
> 
> >Let's see ... The biggest one is regex. At the moment I'm using a C++
> >wrapper around the Posix <regex.h> facilities (my code doesn't need to
> >be portable to non-Posix systems), which does what I want but (being C)
> >is very unsatisfactory from the internationalisation point of view. I'm
> >currently thinking that my best approach would be to extract the regex
> >library from boost, remove the boost dependencies, and distribute it
> >myself, since it already has a pretty good confifgure/install system of
> >its own.
> 
> BTW regex is available separately from boost from my homepages if you just
> want that, and not the whole boost package.

Ah, thank you. That will simplify my life a little.

> >Because there's no way for end users to install them.
> 
> In all probability end users should not install boost - there are several
> things (threading support being one) - which may result in binary
> incompatibilities in object/library files depending how they are built.
> 
> By far the best way to manage boost is to distribute it as "part of" your
> application, and static link to all boost libs, otherwise you will be in
> for some unintended consequences if someone replaces your build of
> libboost_regex.so with something that's not compatible 'cos it was built
> with different compiler options, or is a binary incompatible version (at
> this stage it not clear to me at least what binary compatibility means for
> C++ code, and what changes will break it - it is way more complex than C).

There are other libraries where I'll have to tell users "you need to
reinstall that, don't use the standard release" because of binary
compatibility issues (e.g. Image Magick, whose rpm is built with g++
2.95.x and won't work with g++ 3.x), or other reasons (e.g. SDL, whose
rpm is built without OpenGL support). But I can ask that of my users
with a clear conscience, because those use autotools so reinstalling
them from source is a no brainer. It's frustrating that I need to do so
much more work to make even part of Boost usable, and it's even more
frustrating that the Boost powers-that-be refuse to understand why
endlessly reinventing the same old wheel is not a productive use of
people's time.

-- 
Ross Smith ...................................... Auckland, New Zealand
r-smith_at_[hidden] ......................... http://storm.net.nz/~ross/
  "We need a new cosmology. New gods. New sacraments. Another drink."
                                                       -- Patti Smith