Re: [boost] [Booster] Or boost is useless for library developers

Subject: Re: [boost] [Booster] Or boost is useless for library developers
From: Isidor Zeuner (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-16 02:13:20

> So I do have my own reasons, and BTW Boost.Locale is written with
> backward ABI compatibility in mind.
> 
> So once boost "stabilization" would be started as official part of
> boost I'll be the first who helps.
> 

Don't get me wrong, though. I do find it valuable to explore
solutions to solve ABI problems. I just would not like to see the
boost community being split into those who work on what boost is now,
and those who are always caught in a "should we fix this bug? it makes
applications break, but fixing it would break the ABI" dilemma. I
think a particular virtue of boost is that bugs are fixed, and that
they are fixed in the exact place where the fix belongs, even if that
involves breaking the ABI. Everything else would be a workaround to
some extent.

But I do find it useful to have some control over the ABI. Not because
I want to deploy software in environments where people randomly throw
together modules compiled against different boost versions, but
because I need updating strategies for large deployments of binary
modules which are a bit more granular than "upgrade boost, then
recompile everything".

However, today's possibilities are different from what was
possible before. I think fixed binary ABIs are less important today
than they were some years ago. Today, good compilers are affordable,
computing power sufficient for compiling is affordable, sophisticated
source code management systems are available, programming paradigms
have evolved etc. This allows for more heterogenous environments. We
do not need to strive for having all software converge to a fixed goal
which doesn't evolve anymore (just waiting for the day it breaks),
but we can have software evolve even more dynamically because there
are tools to make sure that all components still find other components
they are compatible to.

Best regards,

Isidor