[boost] Re: Customer Friendlier Boost Installation

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-05-26 09:21:29

"David Bergman" <davidb_at_[hidden]> writes:

> David Abrahams wrote: 
>
>> Yes, we do [need to flirt with the masses...].  We need maximal adoption
> in order to be best 
>> positioned for standardization.  Not just to get the 
>> libraries accepted, but also so they are really deserving of 
>> standardization.
>
> Ok, so what can I do to assist in this effort? More concretely, what
> kind of installer are we talking about? 

Well, to begin with I think we need a Windows installer for headers
and vc7.1 binaries.  There are some free pro-quality installer
construction systems for Windows out there; I forget the names though.

There are a number of valuable possible enhancements I can think of,
if you're ambitious:

   - Allow users to select which libraries they want and:

      a. use bcp to allow users to cut down how much is actually
      installed, or

      b. allow people to cut down how much is actually downloaded (a
      la cygwin installer)

   - Add support for binaries for other compilers, although especially
     when you add STLPort in as a variable there are just too many
     libs to build to get complete coverage, so:

   - add support for invoking bjam via a GUI.  Preferably this GUI
     would dynamically show the user the bjam command-line it is
     composing so that the user would gain some familiarity and be
     able to step outside the bounds of the GUI eventually.

> I would like for us to have an installer-generator (for Windows) so
> we do not have to recreate, or at least rebuild, the installer for
> every revision of Boost.

Sounds good.  Thanks for volunteering!

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com