Re: [boost] Header dependency table

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-08-08 08:34:24

At 06:48 AM 8/8/2002, Peter Dimov wrote:

 >From: "Beman Dawes" <bdawes_at_[hidden]>
 >>
 >> Step back a bit.  Look at the big picture.  What question are we trying 

 >to
 >> answer for users?  What is the use scenario?
 >>
 >> Nico Josuttis posed the original challenge.  It went something like 
this:
 >>
 >> "Suppose I'm considering using a Boost library. What other libraries 
will
 >> also have to be installed because the lib I'm interested in is 
dependent
 >on
 >> them?
 >>
 >> That's the question we need to be able to answer, and it seems library
 >> rather than header oriented.
 >
 >The Boost "install" unit is the header, since there is no way to
 >download/install an individual library.

IIRC, someone said that to Nico at the time he posed the question.  I can't 
remember the details of the conversation (at the Toronto C++ committee 
meeting a couple of years ago) but the point made was that it really isn't 
about download or install issues, but users wishing to use a portion of a 
library without being forced to use the whole library.

The ACE library is a cautionary tale.  When I've asked people, publicly and 
privately, why they don't use ACE, they almost always answer that using ACE 
requires buying into the entire library, and there is no way to separate 
out one component.

Although it isn't the highest priority issue, I really would like to 
continue to report Boost dependencies, and improve the reporting if 
possible.

--Beman