Re: [boost] library dependencies

From: Stefan Seefeld (seefeld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-05-04 14:39:00

Emil Dotchevski wrote:
>  If X is usable without serialization, users shouldn't be forced to also
>> link to the serialization library, just because of this dependency.
>> (In the particular case I have in mind this dependency was controlled
>> by a preprocessor macro. That's not very practical, since packagers
>> surely won't provide two sets of packages for X, one with and one without
>> this dependency.)
>>
>> Thus, I'd suggest to encapsulate the X-serialization functionality into
>> a separate library (may be header-only), such as X_serialization.hpp
>> etc. Then I can still use X stand-alone, and drag in the rest whenever
>> I need it.
> 
> This has been discussed before. You don't need X_serialization.hpp, if you 
> don't use BOOST_CLASS_EXPORT. See 
> http://www.archivesat.com/Boost_developers/thread2900871.htm.

I'm not sure how relevant that is. If X.hpp contains serialization-related
code, it surely needs to include serialization header files, too, to drag
in any relevant declarations. Thus there is a dependency from X to serialization.

Regards,
                Stefan

-- 
      ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...