Re: [boost] [serialization] Support for multiple class name strings

From: Zach Laine (whatwasthataddress_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-22 17:12:31

On 3/15/07, Zach Laine <whatwasthataddress_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> I did something stupid with my serialization code.  I blithely changed
> the names of several polymorphic classes everywhere they appeared in
> the code, since they had moved out of a class into that class's
> namespace (e.g. SomeNS::View::Primitive became SomeNS::Primitive).
> Several months later, I discovered that I could no longer read old
> binary archives, because I was using Boost.Serialization's
> BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT() macro, and this macro was now registering the
> Primtive type with the name-string "Primitive", instead of
> "View::Primitive", which is how it was saved in the oldest archives.
>
> Since there is a 1-1 mapping between name-strings and types, and since
> most of the Serialization code uses static/global data, I cannot
> currently support both the archives saved with and the archives saved
> without the "View::" in the same program.
>
> Since I suspect this is not the first time someone has done this, nor
> the last time someone will do so, is there a way to fix this using the
> current library?  If not, would it be technically possible to add a
> BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT_ALIAS() macro, or some such?  If it is possible,
> I'm willing to supply the implementation.
>
> Zach Laine
>

Robert, is there any kind of verdict on the alias patch?  I'd like to
finish this topic before the thread gets too stale.

Zach Laine