Re: [boost] [config] Removing support for old compilers: do we have a consensus yet?

Subject: Re: [boost] [config] Removing support for old compilers: do we have a consensus yet?
From: Daniel James (dnljms_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-01-21 15:14:46

On 21 January 2014 18:51, John Maddock <john_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> As you know Boost.Config has had it's support for old compilers stripped
> out, and this is a controversial change.
>
> We're now at the point where I'd really like to get the routine
> changes/updates into release, but to do that we need a final decision on
> whether to keep (and release) Steven Kelly's changes in develop.
>
> So do we have a final decision?

No. But, I favour reverting the changes to config. There are some
people who care about this support, and even if that's a very small
amount, that's a reason to keep the support in place. In contrast I
can't really see any good reason for the changes (to *config*), the
code they remove is code that never gets updated so there's no real
maintenance benefit, it doesn't remove any dependencies.

Of course this shouldn't stop other libraries from removing support
for older compilers, and they may find it very beneficial to do so.

I actually quite like the idea of creating a C++11 only Boost in the
future, which will involve removing support much more aggressively,
but also be a cleaner and more understandable break.