[boost] Re: Re: Customer Friendlier Boost Installation

From: Jeff Flinn (TriumphSprint2000_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-05-26 07:48:39

"Jonathan Wakely" <cow_at_[hidden]> wrote in message 
news:20050526103904.GA87354_at_compsoc.man.ac.uk...
> On Wed, May 25, 2005 at 07:18:46PM -0400, David Abrahams wrote:
>
>> Caleb Epstein <caleb.epstein_at_[hidden]> writes:
>>
>> > Admittedly there should be example command lines for vc-7_1 etc and
>> > not just gcc.
>>
>> Can you suggest where we should show those examples?  There are quite
>> a few toolsets!  Maybe in the table?
>
> Maybe the example should feature VC, since the VC users are the ones
> likely to be least familiar and least comfortable with a command line
> tool and figuring out the right options.
>
> Unix users are used to scouring man pages to determine the right set of
> cryptic flags and switches, so tailor it to the users who need the most
> hand-holding with the command-line process.

This is absolutely one of those ideas that after you hear it, you think, 
"well that was obvious". :) It provides the biggest bang for the samllest 
change.

I think that if the current example were as you suggest, this whole topic 
probably would not have come up. Issuing:

    bjam "-sTOOLS=vc-7_1" install

would probably do what the majority of first time users would intuit. I 
would probably have windows explorer open and have gotten visual feedback on 
where the directories were placed. If I didn't like the default location, I 
would just move the directories to where I wanted them.

Now my only concerns would be the ease of getting a bjam.exe available and 
the inconsistency in naming for the VC targets:

msvc   // VC6.5 can we add vc6_5?
vc7    // VC7   would vc7_0 be better?
vc-7_1 // VC7.1 why the dash? why not vc7_1?

Jeff Flinn