Re: [boost] "Remove obsolete MSVC checks" and _MSC_VER

Subject: Re: [boost] "Remove obsolete MSVC checks" and _MSC_VER
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-09-26 13:13:26

Stephen Kelly wrote:
> People writing new source code are not going to check if it worked with 
> all compilers pretending to be MSVC 7.1 (but not actually MSVC 7.1) and 
> wrap it in an ifdef. We bumped the compiler requirement so that they don't 
> have to do that.

I don't understand.

We bumped the compiler requirements for MSVC. We did not bump the compiler 
requirements for all other compilers that define _MSC_VER. Perhaps some of 
them define it to 1200 or 1300. Not emulating MSVC 7.1 features is not a 
reason to disqualify a compiler.

> * Removal of near-duplicate code
> * Removal of obsolete workarounds (pulling in dependencies),

These do not apply to the cases I have in mind, which use _MSC_VER properly 
and not incorrectly, and in which the only change is from

#if defined( _MSC_VER ) && _MSC_VER >= ...

to

#if defined( _MSC_VER )

Nothing is removed, nothing is obsolete, nothing is simplified. I see no 
upside here.