[boost] [gsoc] Boost.Process done

Subject: [boost] [gsoc] Boost.Process done
From: Boris Schaeling (boris_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-08-15 08:03:04

Here are the results of the Boost.Process project within this year's  
Google Summer of Code program: We have a complete library to manage system  
processes now!

If you like to play around with the library download the ZIP file from  
<http://www.highscore.de/boost/gsoc2010/process.zip>. As it's a  
header-only library simply copy the files to your Boost folder. If you  
like to quickly check the documentation click on  
<http://www.highscore.de/boost/gsoc2010/>.

The library is now complete and basically ready for a review. As there  
have been so many Boost.Process drafts before (after all the first version  
was created 2006) this library's version number is 0.4. This will somehow  
make it possible to refer to the various drafts if it's necessary.

For now I would appreciate if the library's test cases are run on as many  
platforms as possible. After copying the files from the ZIP file to the  
Boost folder change to libs/process/test/ and run bjam - that's all!

What has been changed?

* All previous Boost.Process drafts including Ilya's 2008 version from the  
vault have been thoroughly studied to create a better version. From the  
multiple Boost.Process drafts which have been floating around since 2006  
we took the best ideas and created a new unified version.

* The design and implementation of the library have been simplified. The  
library's API is smaller, and the implementation is easier to understand.  
It should be possible to benefit from this library as quickly as possible.  
Even developers who have no experience in managing system processes should  
be able to do so easily.

* There are no POSIX and Windows specific classes anymore (posix_context,  
posix_child, win32_context, win32_child etc. have been dropped). Instead  
of trying to support each and every feature platforms provide extension  
points have been defined. They enable library users to "link in" those  
platform specific features they are interested in.

* For the first time there is full support for synchronous and  
asynchronous operations. While asynchronous operations are built on top of  
Boost.Asio synchronous operations can be utilized without that library.  
Developers don't need to include any Boost.Asio headers and don't need to  
learn about Boost.Asio if they don't need asynchronous operations.

* Stream behaviors define if and how standard streams can be used by a  
child process. While the various stream behaviors were defined as an  
enumeration or a boost::variant in previous Boost.Process drafts they are  
now implemented as classes. This makes it possible for developers to  
create new stream behaviors.

* The code to start child processes on POSIX platforms has been carefully  
adapted to support multi-threaded applications (it turned out that this  
code was wrong in all Boost.Process drafts so far). The documentation  
explains what you need to take care of if you want to create child  
processes in a multi-threaded application on POSIX platforms.

* The documentation is new and has been shortened and simplified. There is  
a user guide which can be read in 10 minutes and introduces all the major  
features of the library. The documentation is now also based on Quickbook.

* The test cases have been restructured to simplify them. They can now be  
run without patching Boost.Test and without setting a path to a helper  
executable in the source files - it's now all automatic. They are all  
passed successfully with MSVC 9 (2008) and g++ 4.2.1.

What is currently missing?

* Pipelines are not (yet) supported. If you have been using  
boost::process::launch_pipeline() there is nothing in this Boost.Process  
draft you can use instead. Depending on feedback this feature will be  
added again (there was simply no time yet to do this).

We hope that after four years, two Google Summer of Code programs and  
countless drafts this new version will finally become the official  
Boost.Process library so many have been waiting for.

Boris and Felipe