August 2007 - Boost - lists.boost.org

Limitation of liability in Boost License
by Stephan Tolksdorf 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

Hi all IANAL but AFAIK the Boost License's disclaimer of warranty and liability is invalid under German law (irrespective whether the licensee is a consumer or not). I'd guess that similar can be said about some other jurisdictions in Europe or elsewhere. I'm curious, is this a matter of concern for anyone, in particular for corporate contributors? Best regards, Stephan

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Re: [boost] Old, Old bugs.
by Philippe Vaucher 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

> #17 Socket wrapper class asio az_sw_dude > <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/17> I just wanted to point out that this ticked should be closed because boost::asio will address it. Philippe

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Re: [boost] ScopeExit
by Steven Watanabe 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

AMDG Sorry about responding to a digest. Gmane is down. Alexander Nasonov wrote: > > How about this? > > int BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION( (v) ) (int i) > { > return v = i; > } BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION_END > > <snip> Nice way to handle the return type. You would need a base class and dynamic allocation right? Also, I need to be able to specify the name of the function somehow and I am not sure how this can be accomplished with that interface. Here's what I have right now: template<class Tuple, class F> struct local_function; #define BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION_DEF(z, n, data)\ template<class Tuple class R BOOST_PP_ENUM_TRAILING_PARAMS_Z(z, n, class T)>\ struct local_function<Tuple, R(BOOST_PP_ENUM_PARAMS_Z(z, n, T))> {\ Tuple tuple;\ R (*f)(BOOST_PP_ENUM_TRAILING_PARAMS_Z(z, n, T));\ local_function(const Tuple& t) : tuple(t) {}\ R operator()(BOOST_PP_ENUM_SHIFTED_BINARY_PARAMS_Z(z, n, T, t)) {\ return(f(tuple BOOST_PP_ENUM_SHIFTED_TRAILING_PARAMS_Z(z, n, t)))\ }\ }; BOOST_PP_REPEAT(BOOST_PP_INC(BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION_MAX_ARITY), BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION_DEF, ~) So that int BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION(name, (i)(j), (int x)(int y)) { //body here } BOOST_LOCAL_FUNCTION_END expands to int result_tag; typedef BOOST_TYPEOF(result_tag) result_type; typedef BOOST_TYPEOF(i) type_0; typedef BOOST_TYPEOF(j) type_1; typedef boost::tuple<type_0, type_1> tuple_type; typedef local_function<tuple_type, result_type(tuple_type, int x, int y)> function_type; function_type name(make_tuple(i, j)); { function_type* function_ptr = &name; struct body { result_type impl(tuple_type& args, int x, int y) { type_0& i = boost::get<0>(args); type_1 j = boost::get<1>(args); { //body here } } }; function_ptr->f = &body::impl; } Note that i and j are passed by value rather than by reference. Otherwise, it is not safe to have a copy of the function around after control leaves the scope it is defined in. In Christ, Steven Watanabe

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Re: [boost] ScopeExit Review ends tomorrow
by Tom Brinkman 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

> No. I fear that this macro, along with the "FOR_EACH" macro, that > boost developers are warming up to "macros" in general. We should > stick to standard syntax, even if the standard syntax is verbose and > ugly. Macros always come back to bite you. My no vote is sole > based on my dislike of macros. Macros internal to a library are > fine, but for a public interface, I'm not persuaded. >> I disagree with that in just about every way; it seems like the worst >> kind of FUD, and it's factually inaccurate to boot. Dave, your feelings about "macros" are well known. Your MPL library, which I use, and your book, which I have purchased, have made an important contribution to the C++ community. However, If I have one criticisism, its your overuse and dependence on macros. Neverthless, if they are hidden in the library, and I as a user dont have to see or know about them, I could care less. That is, unless, I was the unfortunate soul that had to maintain a library that had many internal macros. >> Boost developers in general have been warm to "macros" ever since >> BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT, which was one of the very first public >> Boost library components. I stand corrected, as you say, boost developers have always generally been "warm" to macros. >> use macros *extensively* throughout many libraries, and, when >> appropriate, in library interfaces. In nine years they haven't "come >> back to bite us. Couldn't disagree with your point more here. The boost libraries that are full of macros are very difficult to maintain and extend for all but the original library authors. If the boost developers suddenly retired, who will maintain those libraries that make extensive use of macros. That could come back to bite the users if in in the years ahead, the original library author has moved on. Not saying that will happen, but its a concern of mine, and keeps me from becoming to dependent on those libraries. >> I think that in many cases have shown themselves to be >> superior to any available alternative. Also I disagree here as well. BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT is one of a few macros that you could argue that should be included as public interface of boost. I suspect that If we were study this issue in depth, there would be very few examples of "public" macros that would be superior to their alternatives. "Non-public" internal macros, shur, the library author should be allowed to explore the creative use of macros all they want.

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Proposed library
by Jake hall 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

I would like to hear peoples thought on a library i uploaded to the vault and maybe get it submitted for review. the libraries name is the EventHandler library, it can be found in the vault under home / Generic Programming / EventHandler.zip i find it simple to use (well i wrote it so i should) but effective at adding almost .net style events to classes

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Old, Old bugs.
by Marshall Clow 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

Here is a list of all the open bugs that were created in 2001. Are we going to fix any of these ... ever? #913 Specialization of lexical_cast lexical_cast kevlin <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/913> #916 BPL Support for Python Callable Objects Python dave <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/916> #918 __doc__ strings Python dave <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/918> [ This bug has seen some activity recently, at least ] #920 Proposed extension to random library random jmaurer <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/920> #922 Lexical cast and wide characters lexical_cas nobody <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/922> #928 VC6: should __fastcall be defined? regex johnmaddock <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/928> [ This bug was closed in 2001, and reopened in 2007! ] #930 iostream and zlib iostreams nobody <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/930> [ I assigned this to Doug. ] #17 Socket wrapper class asio az_sw_dude <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/17> #30 parser functional mark_rodgers <http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/30> [ Is this satisfied by 'program_options'? ] Thanks to everyone for their help in getting the bug count down! -- -- Marshall Marshall Clow Qualcomm, Inc. <mailto:mclow@qualcomm.com> The famous British scientist, Lord Kelvin, said: "When you measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it, but when you cannot (or do not) measure it, when you cannot (or do not) express it in numbers, then your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind."

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header test
by Steven Watanabe 23 Aug '07

23 Aug '07

AMDG I just compiled every header in the trunk by itself. I have found the first error message from every file that failed and attached the result along with the files for running the test. The full output is way too big so I'm not sending it. In Christ, Steven Watanabe boost/token_functions.hpp(279) : error C2065: 'is_pointer' : undeclared identifier boost/archive/basic_text_iprimitive.hpp(116) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'BOOST_PP_EMPTY' boost/archive/basic_text_oprimitive.hpp(140) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'BOOST_PP_EMPTY' boost/circular_buffer/base.hpp(110) : error C2653: 'cb_details' : is not a class or namespace name boost/circular_buffer/space_optimized.hpp(34) : error C2504: 'circular_buffer' : base class undefined boost/concept_check/has_constraints.hpp(26) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'value' boost/date_time/date_duration.hpp(37) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'special_values' boost/date_time/date_parsing.hpp(269) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/date_time/dst_transition_generators.hpp(23) : error C2653: 'std' : is not a class or namespace name boost/date_time/time.hpp(63) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'special_values' boost/date_time/local_time_adjustor.hpp(135) : error C2039: 'dst_flags' : is not a member of 'boost::date_time' boost/date_time/period_formatter.hpp(39) : error C2653: 'std' : is not a class or namespace name boost/date_time/date_parsing.hpp(269) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/date_time/time_system_counted.hpp(141) : error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'special_values' boost/date_time/time_system_split.hpp(46) : error C2039: 'wrapping_int' : is not a member of 'boost::date_time' boost/date_time/date_parsing.hpp(269) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/detail/utf8_codecvt_facet.hpp(113) : error C2144: syntax error : 'BOOST_UTF8_DECL' should be preceded by ';' boost/format/alt_sstream_impl.hpp(21) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/format/group.hpp(44) : error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'basic_ostream' boost/format/parsing.hpp(106) : error C2039: 'bad_format_string' : is not a member of 'boost::io' boost\gil\metafunctions.hpp(276) : error C2065: 'use_default' : undeclared identifier boost/gil/deprecated.hpp(58) : error C2653: 'std' : is not a class or namespace name boost/gil/device_n.hpp(59) : error C2504: 'layout' : base class undefined boost/graph/graph_archetypes.hpp(31) : error C2504: 'incidence_graph_tag' : base class undefined boost/graph/matrix_as_graph.hpp(17) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'boost/int_iterator.hpp': No such file or directory boost/graph/read_dimacs.hpp(27) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ',' before '<' boost/graph/small_world_generator.hpp(23) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/graph/two_bit_color_map.hpp(29) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/graph/write_dimacs.hpp(50) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ',' before '<' boost/interprocess/intersegment_ptr.hpp(554) : error C3083: 'workaround': the symbol to the left of a '::' must be a type boost/interprocess/managed_multi_shared_memory.hpp(22) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'boost/interprocess/detail/creation_tags.hpp': No such file or directory boost/interprocess/detail/segment_manager_helper.hpp(178) : error C3861: 'assert': identifier not found boost/intrusive/derivation_value_traits.hpp(34) : error C2039: 'pointer_to_other' : is not a member of 'boost' boost/intrusive/member_value_traits.hpp(37) : error C2039: 'pointer_to_other' : is not a member of 'boost' boost/intrusive/pointer_plus_bit.hpp(23) : error C2653: 'std' : is not a class or namespace name boost/iostreams/input_sequence.hpp(48) : error C2039: 'is_custom' : is not a member of 'boost::iostreams::detail' boost/iostreams/output_sequence.hpp(48) : error C2039: 'is_custom' : is not a member of 'boost::iostreams::detail' boost/lambda/casts.hpp(90) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/lambda/detail/control_constructs_common.hpp(27) : error C2065: 'lambda_functor' : undeclared identifier boost/mpl/alias.hpp(18) : error C2653: 'boost' : is not a class or namespace name boost/pending/container_traits.hpp(38) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'slist': No such file or directory boost/serialization/void_cast_fwd.hpp(27) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<cv-qualifer>' boost/spirit/meta/impl/fundamental.ipp(33) : error C2065: 'plain_parser_category' : undeclared identifier boost/test/exception_safety.hpp(66) : error C2039: 'const_string' : is not a member of 'boost::unit_test' boost/typeof/int_encoding.hpp(56) : error C2504: 'push_back' : base class undefined boost/typeof/modifiers.hpp(11) : error C2006: '#include' : expected a filename, found 'identifier' boost/typeof/pointers_data_members.hpp(11) : error C2006: '#include' : expected a filename, found 'identifier' boost/typeof/register_functions.hpp(18) : error C2006: '#include' : expected a filename, found 'identifier' boost/typeof/template_template_param.hpp(56) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before ''template<'' boost/xpressive/detail/utility/symbols.hpp(36) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/archive/detail/basic_archive_impl.hpp(36) : error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'basic_archive_impl' compile-c-c++ ..\bin.v2\test_headers\boost_asio_detail_deadline_timer_service.hpp.test\msvc-8.0\debug\threading-multi\boost_asio_detail_deadline_timer_service.obj test.cpp boost/asio/detail/socket_types.hpp(27) : fatal error C1189: #error : WinSock.h has already been included boost/asio/detail/old_win_sdk_compat.hpp(58) : error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 's6_addr' boost/asio/detail/task_io_service.hpp(35) : error C2039: 'service_base' : is not a member of 'boost::asio::detail' boost/asio/detail/service_base.hpp(33) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<' boost/asio/impl/io_service.ipp(36) : error C2514: 'boost::asio::detail::service_registry' : class has no constructors boost/asio/impl/io_service.ipp(39) : error C2027: use of undefined type 'boost::asio::detail::win_iocp_io_service' boost/bimap/container_adaptor/sequence_container_adaptor.hpp(115) : error C2039: 'totally_ordered' : is not a member of 'boost' boost/bimap/container_adaptor/sequence_container_adaptor.hpp(115) : error C2039: 'totally_ordered' : is not a member of 'boost'

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ScopeExit
by Goran Mitrovic 22 Aug '07

22 Aug '07

Hello. This won't be a proper review of the library, but more a point of view of an average Boost user. ScopeExit seems like a very nice utility, but, I don't think I could ever use it because of two things: 1. Dependence on boost.typeof. I would like the native typeof keyword, but, boost.typeof too much stresses compile type and a requirement of type registration is so unergonomic that makes boost.typeof a very nice and powerful demo, but not a useful utility for every day use. 2. Unusual syntax, both for me and someone who would later work on my code. Using preprocessor sequence and having BOOST_SCOPE_EXIT_END after {} braces looks so unnatural in C++. If, by any chance, my vote will be counted, I'll vote no for this utility until those two items are resolved. I understand maybe it's not possible to do so, but, I would rather not have it in Boost then.

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How to claim copyright (and potentially claim prior art?)
by Paul A Bristow 22 Aug '07

22 Aug '07

I have been revising some code that claims // Copyright Paul A. Bristow 2006. // Use, modification and distribution are subject to the // Boost Software License, Version 1.0. // (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt // or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) but now it is 2007 - (even though it seems like I wrote it yesterday ;-) I was tempteed to update // Copyright Paul A. Bristow 2007. but I then realised that this would imply that it was written in 2007, so if this date was to be used to squash some of the absurd software patent claims - for example see http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6183437.html and many other comments on this, an issue that has re-surfaced again recently. I see an important side effect of software leaders like Boost is to preempt any attempt by companies to claim (or even threaten to claim) bogus patent rights by providing clear evidence of prior art. Do Boosters have any views on how we could or should be able to show date of writing? Is there going to be an archive of old releases by which we could establish a writing date? Or better is there going to be an archive of stuff *before* it gets reviewed and released (often at least a year earlier in the past and I doubt if it will get much less than a year even if we smarten up our act). Some of these claims go back a long time - a decade or so. Does the copyright claim date have any relevance to this? Should I write // Copyright Paul A. Bristow 2006 - 7. to show 1st date and developments? IANAL - still ;-) --- Paul A Bristow Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal, Cumbria UK LA8 8AB +44 1539561830 & SMS, Mobile +44 7714 330204 & SMS pbristow(a)hetp.u-net.com

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Trac error
by Nicola Musatti 22 Aug '07

22 Aug '07

Hallo, in the last hour or so I've been trying to log into Trac without success. All I get is a "Trac detected an internal error" message, with the following traceback: Python Traceback Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/trac/lib/python2.3/site-packages/trac/web/main.py", line 406, in dispatch_request dispatcher.dispatch(req) File "/opt/trac/lib/python2.3/site-packages/trac/web/main.py", line 184, in dispatch req.session = Session(self.env, req) File "/opt/trac/lib/python2.3/site-packages/trac/web/session.py", line 52, in __init__ self.promote_session(sid) File "/opt/trac/lib/python2.3/site-packages/trac/web/session.py", line 154, in promote_session db.commit() File "/var/tmp/python-sqlite-root//usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/sqlite/main.py", line 540, in commit OperationalError: database is locked Is this to be expected for some reason? Cheers, Nicola Musatti

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