Re: [boost] Which Boost libraries support which compilers/versions

From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-07-29 13:19:28

Edward Diener wrote:

> I am not a Boost developer but rather an end user using Boost.

There is no sharp distinction between the two in the newfangled open source 
world. Imagine that you want to use shared_ptr on FooC++ 4.1a running on 
FooOS 3.11. Who, in your opinion, has

a) the incentive
b) the physical ability

to run shared_ptr_test on this platform?

> The most obvious solution is that each compiler/version supported for
> a particular release of Boost needs a regression test run for each
> library of that release, and that final test result needs to be kept
> permanently somewhere for each Boost release.

Saying "needs" by itself does not spawn the volunteers who will actually run 
the tests. In addition, Boost may decide to not support VC 6.0 for a 
particular release, but shared_ptr may still be perfectly functional. Who, 
in your opinion, needs to run the regression tests for shared_ptr on VC 6.0?

> If this is not possible it seems that each library developer should
> know which of the compilers/versions which are supported for a given
> release of Boost works for his library and keep that information 
> permanently
> somewhere in his library documentation.

How could I know? I simply don't have access to all platforms that 
shared_ptr supports, and neither do I have the time to run the tests on 
each.

What's wrong with just running the tests yourself if you want to see whether 
shared_ptr supports your particular configuration?