Re: [boost] boost::detail namespace

From: Marcin Kalicinski (kalita_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-08-19 08:21:36

> I can't speak for all of these, but some of them are libraries that
> don't have their own namespace (e.g. enable_if).  As long as enable_if
> is directly in namespace boost, it makes sense that its detail is in
> boost::detail.

I don't subscribe to that. I think details of every distinct library should 
be in a separate namespace. The reason is detail stuff is not documented and 
changes frequently, so no library writer can actually add safely any new 
name to boost::detail. This means that boost::detail should not exist at 
all, unless it is used only by 1 library. Detail name clashes can be very 
frustrating because they only manifest when certain header file combinations 
are included into one translation unit.

While libraries residing in boost::libraryname can use 
boost::libraryname::detail, the ones that are in boost namespace directly 
could safely use someting like boost::libraryname_detail.

cheers,
Marcin