Re: [boost] [test] --catch_system_errors=no doesn't workwithminimaltest

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-07 13:28:43

Kim Barrett <kab_at_[hidden]> writes:

> At 1:57 AM -0500 11/7/05, Gennadiy Rozental wrote:
>>  > Well, when people are just dipping their toes in the test library
>>>  waters they are likely to start with minimal.hpp,
>>
>>God, I hope not. The only reason this component exists is because some
>>people here on the list, who were familiar with original testing library
>>wanted something for backward compatibility. In fact for the new users I
>>don't see almost any reasons to use it at all. Boost.Test provides better
>>alternatives.
>
> Quoting from the introduction to the documentation section for the
> Minimal Testing facility:
>
>    Minimal testing facility does not require linking with external components,
>    so could be a component of choice for simple and quick testing needs.

Yes, that's exactly what I thought would lead people to reach for
minimal.hpp as a way of getting started.  Either minimal.hpp should be
made to be useful for the most basic use cases, where an individual
user will want to debug a problem that it finds, or you should do a
much better job of discouraging people from using it.  Personally, I
think supporting --catch_system_errors=no in minimal.hpp is so trivial
as to be not worthy of an argument, but if you really insist on making
first-time users jump through hoops, minimal.hpp should be given a
different name in the public docs (like backward_compatibility.hpp) --
you can just make that header #include minimal.hpp -- and you should
do something to make it much less attractive, like for example,
stating up front that it's no good for JIT debugging.

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