Re: Technical Excellence?

From: John Maddock (jz.maddock_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-03-29 12:46:07

On 27/03/2024 17:04, Daniele Lupo via Boost wrote:
>
> On 27/03/2024 17:47, Andrey Semashev via Boost wrote:
>> The biggest obstacle to removing any library is that the library may
>> have users. This is true regardless of the perceived quality or
>> "modern-ness" of the library.
>
> If boost remains stuck with this, no libraries will ever be removed.
>
> In my opinion at some point it's necessary to say clear and loud "this 
> library will be deprecated in Boost 1.87.0 and removed in 1.90.0". 
> Users that will use the library will have time to update their code, 
> and if it's some legacy code that cannot be removed, simply they will 
> not update boost anymore in their environment, remaining stuck to the 
> last version that they will use and that support that library. It's 
> always possible, if necessary, to give a patch release for that 
> version if necessary. For example if boost is updated to 1.95.0, and 
> we discover a severe bug, it's always possible to release a 1.89.1 
> release, that is the last release that support the removed library. 
> But only if needed. It should be also possible to define the last 
> supported version, saying that bugs in version that are newer that 
> this one will be patched if needed like I've said, otherwise the 
> version is out of support.
>
> For example, for smart pointers (I don't say that we need to remove 
> it, it's only an example) we can write in the site and in the 
> documentation
>
> - this library is deprecated since version 1.87.0
> - this library will be removed in version 1.91.0
>
> And also
>
> - The oldest version of Boost actively supported is the 1.84.0 (that 
> means that it's possible to have 1.84.1, but not 1.83.1).
>
> This way it's possible to:
>
> - Remove old libraries (i.e. smart pointers, since they are supported 
> in C++11)
> - Give time to people that use deprecated libraries to update their code
> - Support people that cannot update the code for any reason for a 
> defined period of time.

Right, but also we can leave the github repro's in place, and folks can 
download and use the "last known good version" on top of a later Boost 
if this wish.

Just my 2c... John.