Re: [boost] Class serialization

From: martin.ecker_at_[hidden]
Date: 2004-11-09 02:27:25

Peter Dimov wrote:
> Correct deserialization of shared_ptr/weak_ptr requires keeping a 
container 
> of shared_ptr<void> that holds the objects alive during the 
deserialization 
> process. 

Indeed. 

> The problem I've not been able to solve so far is where to keep it 
> without making shared_ptr special WRT the archives. :-)

At work, we're using a modified version of boost::serialization where 
we've added a shared_ptr registry (the container to keep the pointed-
to objects alive) as a kind of user data to the archives. So this 
could be a way, which would, however, require users to explicitly 
associate the shared_ptr registry with archives that have to 
deserialize shared_ptrs/weak_ptrs. We haven't found this to be much of 
a problem, though.

In general, I propose adding some sort of user data mechanism to 
archives. Our system is quite complex and we use boost::serialization 
exclusively to serialize all the classes. Sometimes it is necessary to 
store certain state during serialization/deserialization that is 
associated with archives and that can be accessed from within 
serialization code. This is especially true for objects that depend on 
each other and have more complex relationships, such as shared_ptr and 
weak_ptr.

Best Regards,
Martin

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