Re: [boost] Checking interest in DynamicLoad/DLL/DSO/Plugin library

Subject: Re: [boost] Checking interest in DynamicLoad/DLL/DSO/Plugin library
From: jwaterloo_at_[hidden]
Date: 2014-08-31 11:18:51

On 2014-08-15 07:36, Antony Polukhin wrote:

> There is a basic implementation of a header only Plugin library:
> https://github.com/apolukhin/Boost.Plugin
> 
> Documentation with examples could be found here:
> http://apolukhin.github.io/Boost.Plugin/index.html
> 
> Is there an interest in such library in Boost community?
> What features are missing in the library?
> 
> Looking forward to hearing from you. Any feedback is more than 
> welcomed.

Yes, tons of interest.

Looking at the documentation, 2 features seem lacking; correct me if I 
am wrong.

1) Notification of shared library unloading and loading.
If users and library/framework stick to the reference counting, which is 
recommended, how can a framework get an opportunity to do things when 
the end users/references finally disappear. While loading I may want to 
read a manifest, add services to a services registry. While unloading I 
may delete a dated version of the shared library as a more recent dated 
version of the same library has already been loaded. ... For web 
development or any development I would like to hot swap to speed 
development by shortening the redeploy test cycle like found in Java 
JSPs, Java JRebel or any dynamic language. To build limited interface 
based variations of this, notification seems essential.

2) How do we make our plugins object methods return references to other 
shared pointers which is also tied to the shared library counter? A 
better nested object example is in order.