Re: [boost] [xint] Boost.XInt formal review

Subject: Re: [boost] [xint] Boost.XInt formal review
From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-03-12 09:42:58

Anders Dalvander wrote:
> On 20:59, Chad Nelson wrote:
> > On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:28:25 -0600
> > Nevin Liber<nevin_at_[hidden]>  wrote:
> >> This stuff is hard to get right.  You are better off not implementing
> >> it.
> >
> > On the contrary. It's *because* it's hard to get right that it belongs
> > in a library.
>
> Yes, it belong in *a* library, but XInt is probably not the correct one.
>
> It should probably be done by the allocator, as someone suggested earlier.

I think that anyone serious about security will probably choose to implement 
his own - the work required is the same as auditing an existing library, and 
with xint, with its multitude of options that obscure the code to an extent, 
it may be even less. The existing "secure" option may be better than 
nothing, of course. On the other hand, it creates the famous "false sense of 
security".