[boost] [Windows developers] Linux virtual machine for Boost developers

Subject: [boost] [Windows developers] Linux virtual machine for Boost developers
From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-09-26 09:41:29

In another thread, Anthony Williams wrote:

 > ... I'll open a trac
 > ticket, and fix it when I'm next using my linux box.

I develop on Windows, and used keep a Linux box around for developing 
Linux specific code. But lately I've switched to using VirtualBox 
(www.virtualbox.org) for Linux development. It's free, open source, is a 
lot easier to use and maintain than separate machines or dual boot 
configurations, It is also easier to use than other virtualization 
approaches I've tried, which tended to be fragile.

VirtualBox seems particularly well suited for developers who don't want 
to invest a lot of time to set up a sophisticated virtual environment. 
Works great with the current Ubuntu distribution. And because it runs as 
a regular Windows program, it has no impact whatsoever on performance 
when it isn't running. Works well even on a Windows laptop machine.

I'm mentioning this because I'm guessing that Boost has a number of 
developers who usually develop on Windows, but would occasionally like 
to work on their libraries in a Linux environment.

It can also be hosted on Linux, Mac, and OpenSolaris, and run a variety 
of guest operating system, but I suspect the Windows host / Linux guest 
configuration is the one that might particularly benefit several Boost 
developers, and its the one that I've actually used.

--Beman