[boost] [serialization] container_size_type

From: troy d. straszheim (troy_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-15 17:01:21

in "fast array serialization (10x speedup)" 
On Tue, Nov 15, 2005 at 08:07:03PM +0100, Matthias Troyer wrote:
> 
> I actually have a portable binary archive based on XDR format, but it  
> works only on UNIX operating systems, and that's why I have not  
> submitted it to Boost.
> 

We need a couple tweaks yet, no?  I have a very plain portable binary
archive around that I'd like to submit, it depends on:

Matthias Troyer wrote way back in that thread:
> 3. I had to introduce a new strong typedef in basic_archive.hpp:
> 
> BOOST_STRONG_TYPEDEF(std::size_t, container_size_type)
> BOOST_CLASS_IMPLEMENTATION(boost::archive::container_size_type,
> primitive_type)
> 
> I remember that you suggested in the past that this should be done
> anyways. One reason is that using unsigned int for the size of a
> container, as you do it now will not work on platforms with 32 bit
> int and 64 bit std::size_t : the size of a container can be more than
> 2^32. I don't always want to serialize std::size_t as the integer
> chosen by the specific implementation either, since that would again
> not be portable. By introducing a strong typedef, the archive
> implementation can decide how to serialize the size of a container.
> 
> The further modifications to the library in
> 
> boost/serialization/collections_load_imp.hpp
> boost/serialization/collections_save_imp.hpp
> boost/serialization/vector.hpp
> 
> were to change the collection serialization to use the
> container_size_type.

[snip]

> 4. boost/archive/basic_binary_[io]archive.hpp serialize
> container_size_type as an unsigned int as done till now. It might be
> better to bump the file version and serialize them as std::size_t.

Can we go ahead with these bits?

-t