Potential project: Resolving boost::chrono conflicts with std::chrono

From: Howard Hinnant (howard.hinnant_at_[hidden])
Date: 2019-08-09 01:01:40

Possible project for someone looking for a boost project to contribute to:

boost::chrono was created soon after std::chrono was proposed and served people well for experimenting with this library prior to migrating to C++11.  Fast forward 8 years:  Now we have two competing chrono libraries:  boost::chrono and std::chrono.  And it is not rare for people to use non-chrono boost libraries, which in turn use boost::chrono, and for those same people to use std::chrono.  Invariably what happens is they get horribly complicated compile-time errors which boil down to: boost::chrono does not interoperate with std::chrono.  And these errors often come from deep within libraries which people are simply trying to use.

The pitch:  boost::chrono, and other boost::libs needs to defer to std::chrono for C++11 and later.  This would make boost significantly easier to use.  This is likely a multi-project effort, and I don’t even have a concrete strategy in mind.  This is a problem in search of a solution, not vice-versa.  And I often hear of enthusiastic people who want to jump in and lend a helping hand.  I think this would be a terrific area to point such talent towards.

Howard