[boost] Boost.Process 0.5 released

Subject: [boost] Boost.Process 0.5 released
From: Boris Schaeling (boris_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-08-18 11:31:49

Boost.Process 0.5 has been released! Documentation and library can be  
found at: <http://www.highscore.de/boost/process0.5/>

Why version 0.5?

We have no official process management library in Boost yet. But we had  
countless drafts since 2006. In order not to get completely lost between  
all those drafts I gave them version numbers. For example, 0.1 was the  
very first draft in 2006. 0.31 is the draft documented at  
<http://www.highscore.de/cpp/process/>. And 0.4 was the draft which was  
rejected in a formal review in spring 2011. Version 0.5 is the latest  
attempt to create a process management library.

What's new?

Version 0.5 has a very different design than all other drafts before. The  
design was proposed by Jeff Flinn who introduced it briefly at BoostCon  
2011 when we gave a presentation on Boost.Process. The goals of this new  
version are:

* A lightweight implementation (no overly complicated code anymore).
* A fully extensible library (no need for arbitrary "extension points").
* Support for system-level cross-platform concepts only (no Java-like  
constructs).

Other goals like making the library easy to use were of course also  
targeted. But these were goals before. The goals above are important as  
those things have been criticized in earlier drafts and were as far as I  
see the main reasons why version 0.4 had been rejected.

What now?

Please have a look at the documentation and think about whether this  
library could fit into Boost. If you have more time, please download and  
play around with the new version. Concentrate on the bigger picture: Does  
the design make sense? Is it easy to understand? Can you do what you want  
to do? Does it look and feel like modern C++?

This is not a formal review. But it would help to get some feedback to see  
a tendency. After six years, two Google Summer of Code projects, countless  
drafts and still a lot of interest from many people in a process  
management library in Boost, we might be able to get somewhere this time.

(If you are on Windows: There is a bug in Boost.Iostreams which has been  
fixed in the release candidate 1 of Boost 1.51.0. See the documentation if  
you run into a problem when closing pipes.)

Anything missing?

We had a closed beta test in the previous two weeks with about ten people  
who had contacted me because of their interest in Boost.Process. I got  
already some good feedback and have to change a few details. These are  
only details though and shouldn't stop anyone from using this new version  
now. If everyone is happy with the overall design and architecture and  
it's only details we have to discuss, it's already a huge step forward.

Last but not least: Boost.Process 0.5 wouldn't exist without the help of  
Intra2net AG (<http://www.intra2net.com/>). Intra2net AG sponsored a  
project to support the development of Boost.Process. It was this  
sponsorship which made it possible to create this new version. Thanks to  
them!

Boris