Re: [boost] Cmake

Subject: Re: [boost] Cmake
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-06-24 16:29:15

Stefan Seefeld wrote:

> I'm a bit confused by the listing, as you use the term "user" in quite 
> different ways.

No, I use it in the same way throughout.

> All but 1) are addressed at boost developers, i.e. people who want to 
> build (, test, etc.) boost itself. Only 1) is concerned about users who 
> want to use boost as external dependency to their own project.

No. Most are addressed at users of Boost. (6) is admittedly probably of 
interest mostly to ourselves.

> To be honest, I don't quite understand 2). Why do you want to support 
> building boost (or parts of it) as an integral part of something else ?

That's a common workflow. Your (non-Boost!) library or project keeps all of 
its dependencies in ext/ and "consumes" them from there using 
add_subdirectory from CMake. This is what boost-cmake-demo-2 shows. This is 
not a way to support building Boost, this is a way to support using Boost 
libraries as part of some user project, without needing to build and install 
(the entire) Boost.

> Modularity and encapsulation doesn't seem to have any value to you, or 
> does it ?

Not sure what you mean here. You ask me why do I want to support building 
only parts of Boost, then ask me whether modularity has any value to me. You 
must be using a meaning of the word "modularity" with which I am not 
familiar.