Re: [boost] proposal - modularize Boost build system

Subject: Re: [boost] proposal - modularize Boost build system
From: degski (degski_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-06-19 05:37:45

On 18 June 2017 at 23:34, Edward Diener via Boost <boost_at_[hidden]>
wrote:

> When I speak of dependencies I am not just speaking of library X depending
> on other libraries A, B, and C etc. I am also speaking of library X
> depending on particular versions of library A, B, C etc. But since the only
> versioning system Boost has is a single version number for a Boost release,
> and since their is no way a library can check even that single version
> number of a Boost release either at compile or run-time, Boost libraries
> have no way to check versioning of other individual Boost libraries on
> which a library may depend.
>
> If you say, I am going to distribute my library X with particular releases
> of library A, B, and C etc. with which I know my library X will work
> correctly you then have end-users of your library who may have multiple
> copies of libraries X, A, B, and C etc. on their systems, ...

and:

Robert Ramey wrote: "In order to distribute boost as individual libraries
as opposed to a monolithic set, individual library versioning will sooner
or later have to be adopted."

This is exactly how rust's Cargo works. Developers can specify the version
or version+ against which his library should be built. I'm not claiming
Cargo is perfect, but it's really pretty good at this and creates complete
transparency as to what the dependencies are. Having multipple versions
around is a consequence of this though. Cargo just works! Bar errors that
did not came out in testing, this guarantees stability for every library
individually, which in its' turn guarantees overall stability. This is
pretty neat!

> Let's be realistic, this is a real problem which only some sort of Boost
> individual library versioning system for starters can hope to solve.
>

 The build system should address/include the versioning, Cargo should be
taken as a model, me thinks.

degski
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