[boost] string_view versus string_ref

Subject: [boost] string_view versus string_ref
From: Andrzej Krzemienski (akrzemi1_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-07-06 07:46:36

Hi Everyone,
I would like to understand the situation with these two templates:
basic_string_view and basic_string_ref.

The official, advertised library is string_ref:
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_64_0/libs/utility/doc/html/string_ref.html

At the same time we have string_view:
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_64_0/boost/utility/string_view.hpp

But the latter is never mentioned in the documentation, except in Boost.Log:
(see http://www.boost.org/users/history/version_1_61_0.html)

The support for boost::basic_string_ref and its specializations is
> deprecated; users are encouraged to switch to boost::basic_string_view.
> The support for boost::basic_string_ref will be removed in future
> releases.
>

My question: is there any official position of Boost about having these two
templates?

Regards,
&rzej;