[boost] Re: shared_ptr and serialization

From: Russell Hind (rh_gmane_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-11-18 07:47:28

Peter Dimov wrote:
>>
>> So maybe we can consider a practical compromise.
>>
>> a) Grant me access to the internals of shared_ptr for now
> 
> 
> a) You aren't going to get access to the internals of std::tr1::shared_ptr.
> 
> b) Your implementation doesn't work when a weak_ptr is read before the 
> corresponding shared_ptr.

But in this case, the weak_ptr was also written before the shared_ptr so 
when the weak_ptr was written, if it had a valid point, it should have 
written the shared_ptr's object out to the archive.

What is then needed is a way to store the re-constructed weak_ptr on 
reading so that it isn't automatically destroyed before a valid 
shared_ptr of the same object is read back in.

> 
> c) I "reserve the right to" change the implementation of 
> boost::shared_ptr. IIUC with this implementation this will break every 
> data file that contains a boost::shared_ptr. Correct?
> 

Thats fair enough but as Neil pointed out, serialization is now an 
accepted part of boost and both shared_ptr and serialization are 
important part of our applications, so shouldn't we make every effort to 
make the two play nicely together?

If we can't do this for std::tr1::shared_ptr, we could still do this for 
boost::shared_ptr.

Cheers

Russell