Re: [boost] [Release 1.34] Supported Compilers

From: Reece Dunn (msclrhd_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-01-31 03:35:26

Loïc Joly wrote:
>Thomas Witt a écrit :
>
> >>vc6
>
>I know that this compiler, however old, still has a wide usage in the
>industry. For instance, my previous work place (a 130000 employees
>company) used it almost exclusively, and most of its partners did so. In
>my new workplace, we switched 1/2 months ago, but still need to support it.

I agree that there are still a lot of companies that are still using VC6, 
mostly because of the effort that would be involved migrating to VC7 or 
VC7.1. However, Microsoft dropped regular updates over a year ago and have 
now dropped *all* support for this compiler.

>While I hate this compiler, and I understand why maintaining it has a
>huge cost, I think that maybe for one of two years, this can still have
>some impact.

I personally don't see the problem in saying that in order to get VC6 (and 
GCC2.95) support for boost use version 1.33, and have VC6 be unsupported in 
version 1.34.

If you take Spirit as an example, Spirit has dropped support for VC6, 
GCC2.95 and Borland for some time now. You can still get the older version 
(so that, for example, you can use Boost.Serialisation on VC6), but the new 
one has a lot cleaner design because it has fewer workarounds and is free to 
use more advanced techniques.

- Reece