[boost] Why do we build debug variants of our compiled libraries?

From: Doug Gregor (dgregor_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-03-23 11:23:09

Looking at the Jamfiles for Signals, Python, and the other libraries in 
Boost that have compiled parts that users link against, I'm wondering 
why we create so many variants by default. Why would a user want to 
link against the debug version of Signals, for instance? The only 
reason I imagine would be to debug Signals, but I should hope that the 
average user does not need to debug that code.

If I dig around /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib on my Mac, I only find 
optimized libraries: nobody else seems to bother building debug 
variants, so why should we?

Anyway, my recommendation is that we stop building debug variants of 
compiled libraries by default. It's easy for the user to build them if 
they are really required.

        Doug