Re: [boost] [1.36.0] High priority compilers for this release?

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-04-03 16:03:03

Felipe Magno de Almeida wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 3:42 PM, Felipe Magno de Almeida
> <felipe.m.almeida_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 12:57 PM, Andrey Semashev <andysem_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>>  > Beman Dawes wrote:
>>  >  > Changes I'd like to see include:
>>  >  >
>>  >
>>  > > * Drop Microsoft VC++ 7.1. Supporting two versions (9.0 and 8.0) is
>>  >  > about all we can afford.
>>  >
>>  >  I'd like to kindly ask to continue supporting VC 7.1 at least for a
>>  >  release or two. This compiler is still rather popular and is quite
>>  >  capable to compile modern C++.
>>
>>  Me too.
>>  There isn't even much difference from MSVC 7.1 and the new 9.0.
>>  Most people don't find compelling to upgrade just to get NRVO basically.
> 
> Sorry to reply to myself, but I only second this request *if* there's
> a regular regression tester to this platform. If there's enough
> testing, I don't see why we should drop support for it.

Testing is the issue. We need reliable *nightly* testing on both trunk 
and release to seriously target a compiler, and we just haven't been 
getting that for 7.1.

Rene and others did a lot of work during the last release cycle to make 
testing more reliable and easier to run. So if someone wants to 
contribute to Boost, running regression tests is easier than ever.

--Beman