Re: [boost] Boost Python library suffix change

Subject: Re: [boost] Boost Python library suffix change
From: Stefan Seefeld (stefan_at_[hidden])
Date: 2018-02-09 15:11:40

On 09.02.2018 06:18, Adam Majer via Boost wrote:
> On 02/07/2018 03:20 AM, Stefan Seefeld via Boost wrote:
>> I'm proposing a naming change that affects all libraries that use the
>> `python.jam` build logic, i.e. Boost.Python, as well as libraries
>> providing Python bindings (as far as I can tell, this is only Boost.MPI,
>> but perhaps I'm missing some).
>>
>> At present, the Boost.Python build logic produces a library named
>> "boost_python", if built with Python2, and "boost_python3", if built
>> with Python3. I'd like to change that so the actual Python version
>> suffix (e.g. "27" for Python 2.7) is being used. Not only would this
>> simplify / unify naming conventions, it also allows users to collocate
>> libraries compiled against multiple Python versions more easily.
>
> I think this is already done in cases where this is required. 

Done by whom ? Having downstream maintainers change library names
introduces problems for users who need to deal with different library
names on different platforms. And it also creates problems for
downstream maintainers themselves, as they not only need to rename
libraries, but also need to change code (such as the auto-link support
that needs to be aware of the library names).

Dealing with it inside Boost's own build logic is definitely the best
solution for this.

(Note that I always argued along a similar line for modularizing Boost
packages, which also results in different package structures for
different platforms / distributions, so dealing with the problem inside
Boost instead of pretending the problem didn't exist would be beneficial
to everyone.)

Stefan

-- 
      ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...