Re: [boost] library dependencies

From: Hartmut Kaiser (hartmut.kaiser_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-05-04 20:01:44

One more thing.
 
I just had a look at the Wave code. By default serialization support is
switched off. So serialization dependencies are generated only if you
explicitly specify BOOST_WAVE_SERIALIZATION=1.

Regards Hartmut

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hartmut Kaiser [mailto:hartmut.kaiser_at_[hidden]] 
> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 6:59 PM
> To: 'boost_at_[hidden]'
> Subject: RE: [boost] library dependencies
> 
> Stefan, 
> 
> > Appologies from me, too, as now we are getting even further 
> from the 
> > original topic.
> > 
> > I have seen at least one case where it was indeed X.hpp that 
> > introduced the dependency to serialization code. However, this 
> > generates another
> > problem:
> > 
> > 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.
> 
> I'm not sure, if this is always possible.
> 
> > PS: the library I'm thinking of is boost.wave, and there 
> serialization
> >     was dragged in whenever BOOST_WAVE_SERIALIZATION is defined.
> 
> As far as Wave is concerned, the mentioned macro has no 
> influence on the code generated for the library. You always 
> can define BOOST_WAVE_SERIALIZATION to zero when compiling 
> your code, even if the library was compiled with 
> BOOST_WAVE_SERIALIZATION=1. The generated library has no 
> dependency on Boost.Serialization.
> 
> HTH
> Regards Hartmut
>