Re: [boost] [sandbox] SVN externals, and large subdirs.

From: Jeff Garland (jeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-05-25 11:07:52

Stefan Seefeld wrote:
> Jeff Garland wrote:
>> Stefan Seefeld wrote:
>>> troy d. straszheim wrote:
>>>
>>> In boost itself libraries live next to each other (in terms of file system
>>> layout). Thus, a sandbox project could be looked at as a single library stored
>>> 'out-of-place'. The build system should support referring to an existing
>>> boost tree for the 'official boost' dependencies, such that the sandbox
>>> project only needs to provide new or updated files, but not a whole copy
>>> of boost-mainline.
>> This is a huge problem with the current sandbox organization.  After spending 
>> a couple hours the other day trying to get boost.build to work in the sandbox 
>> tree I gave up in frustration and had to copy sandbox directories into my 
>> boost tree to use bjam.  This is very annoying to say the least.
> 
> Is this a boost.build limitation ? 

Probably.

> What's the proper way to fix that ?

It sounds like the sandbox libs will eventually become branches of the main 
repository, so that would entrench the practice of embedding these libraries 
into an existing tree.  Personally I'd prefer to have something where I can 
keep a pristine distribution and then add new libs by having them in their own 
tree -- something like:

   boost_1_34_0
   boost_some_new_lib1
   boost_some_new_lib2

But to build and run the tests/examples in these 'one library trees' means 
that you'd need to have a way to specify the base distribution to the build 
system.

Jeff