Re: [boost] Re: filesystem hard link question

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-03-11 22:48:00

At 02:17 PM 3/11/2004, Neal D. Becker wrote:

 >> It is messy for directories on Windows. That's been the holdup. There 
are
 >> also some other Boost.Filesystem enhancements which have higher 
priority.
 >> So unless someone else wants to work up a proposed Windows
 >> implementation, it won't happen anytime soon.
 >>
 >
 >You mean no functions can be added to Boost::Filesystem unless they are
 >supported on all systems?  I'm surprised (and disappointed).

Portable behavior has always been major aim for the library. The criteria 
has been that it should be possible to provide POSIX (including the MAC) 
and Windows implementations which deliver the same behavior for practical 
purposes.

That isn't hard to do with functionality like hard links which are present 
in most modern operating systems, at least for regular files. But it takes 
time to reconcile sometimes differing terminology, figure out exactly what 
can be promised (and what can't be promised), specify the interface, and 
write test cases and documentation. The actual implementation is often 
trivial. Then watch the regression tests as they roll out on different 
systems.

--Beman