March 2014 - Boost - lists.boost.org

Teeks GCC test failures - multiprecision, spirit and others
by John Maddock 21 Mar '14

21 Mar '14

There are a lot of inscrutable failures from the Teeks machines running GCC on linux that I'm unable to reproduce (and aren't reproduced by other testers), for example: http://www.boost.org/development/tests/develop/developer/output/teeks99-03d… All the failures refer to is_convertible, and have an instantiation back trace that leads nowhere (a line that doesn't instantiate anything, and which refers to Boost.Range which multiprecision doesn't use). I see similar failures in the spirit tests as well. Is anyone able to reproduce these? Any ideas what may be going on? The failures are on the master branch as well if that helps. Many thanks, John.

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[mpl] Merging 'develop' to 'master'
by Edward Diener 21 Mar '14

21 Mar '14

I would like to merge the mpl 'develop' changes to mpl 'master'. The develop changes have cycled long enough IMO for the merge to take place, without any problems showing up in the changes. There are two changes of my own and a number of Stephen Kelly eliminating support for very old compiler versions. The changes will clean up many obsolete workarounds for older versions of compilers that no one doing template metaprogramming should seriously use anymore. My own two changes fix some minor problems I ran into when testing clang with VC++ RTL on Windows. The changes make the MPL easier to understand. If there are no objections to the merge I will be glad to carefully do it myself, or Dave Abrahams/Alex Gurtovoy or others who have write access to MPL can do it. But I think it is important to get these changes into 'master', and tested in the 'master' regression tests, before the next Boost release.

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Re: [boost] Boost.Binaries Project
by Antony Polukhin 21 Mar '14

21 Mar '14

Good! Now look, you need to write an officail proposal. here's a template: https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/SoCSubmissionTemplate Send it to the boost(a)lists.boost.org. After that I'll tell the list that you have the qualification, finished test task and I'm willing to mentor you. Get hurry! March 21 is a deadline for student application. A few thoughts about the Binary project: Signing/shifrating a whole section is good idea, I like it. The very initial idea was to allow user specify code block or variable location to shifrate/checksum. That's what for the task with PUT_HELLO_THERE_IN_BINARY was meant for. Inserting markers into binary we'll be able to find code blocks later (find(binary, "Hello there!")). As you've mentioned compiler eliminates dead code, however there is a way to bypass it: if we put the jmp instruction directly in assembly block, compiler will not eliminate it (at least 3 years ago it was not eliminating). Binary library must consist of two parts: postprocessing: tools to find markers, modify marked variables, change sections and entry point... core: markers for code, markers for variables, functions to do something at code block enter/leave. 2014-03-20 20:43 GMT+04:00 Flavius Condrea <flavius.condrea(a)gmail.com>: > Hi Antony, > > > I solved the task you gave me. I attached the source code where you will > find a comment, too. > > I worked last summer at Bitdefender as a full-time Malware Researcher. I > studied a lot of reverse engineering, Windows API and basic Python. While > working there, I made researches on several malwares, developing detection > and cleaning algorithms. > > Also, using Pin library, developed by Intel, I created a C++ > information-revealing application when running a binary file, such as: > > - For each call it obtains information about the instruction > call address , the procedure address, the procedure parameters including > the parameters values. > > - It shows if the function writes in memory and in case it does > the application obtains these information from memory > > - It reveals if a new process or thread is created > > Then I developed a plugin (written in Python) for IDA Disassembler > Application. The plugin inserts strategically-placed comments with the > information mentioned in above. This way, it can be done an easier > binary-file analysis. I attached a few print screens for seeing clearly > what actually my tool does. > > In the same time, if a binary file has encrypted code (most of the > malwares have this), the developed application dumps the image from memory > (in the memory the code is decrypted) and restore the PE Header and > imported functions for an easier IDA analysis of the malware. > > > Best regards, > > Flavius Condrea > > > PS: About this task: should I include it in the application form? > > > 2014-03-20 9:13 GMT+02:00 Antony Polukhin <antoshkka(a)gmail.com>: > > 2014-03-19 21:17 GMT+04:00 Flavius Condrea <flavius.condrea(a)gmail.com>: >> >>> Hi Antony, >>> >> >> Hi and welcome! >> >> >>> I was thinking to apply for Boost.Binaries project. Therefore lately >>> I made researches about what does this involve. I thought of a way to >>> encrypt an executable file and decrypt itself at runtime. I have the >>> following solution for this: >>> >>> 1. Create an encryption key and a decryption key (public or >>> private) >>> >>> 2. Iterate each section and see if it contains executable code and >>> then encrypt that section with the key from point one. >>> >>> 3. Create a new section that will contain the Original Entry >>> Point(OEP) and decryption algorithm that will be executed at runtime. The >>> decryption algorithm will contain (at the end) a jmp to the Original Entry >>> Point. The decryption key will be delivered separately. >>> >>> 4. Change the executable header (PE Header) so that makes it valid >>> after the effectuated changes (this involves modifying the entry point to >>> point to the decryption algorithm and other things) >>> >> Sounds pretty good. Looks like you've done some investigations and know >> what you are talking about. >> >> >> >>> Besides these things I am willing to add other features according to >>> your wishes. >>> >>> I am waiting for your opinion. >>> >> >> You've got a good start, but there is a requirement in community to give >> some small tasks for the student. >> If you are willing to start Boost.Binary project, then you need to make >> a main.cpp file, that contains the following >> >> #include <iostream> >> >> int main() { >> std::cout << "Hello "; >> goto foo; >> PUT_HELLO_THERE_IN_BINARY >> foo: >> std::cout << "World"; >> } >> >> There you must define PUT_HELLO_THERE_IN_BINARY macro to some code, that >> will put the "Hello there!" string between two calls to operator << in >> binary file. In disassembly there must be something like this: >> >> ... >> call basic_ostream::operator<< >> jmp foo >> 48 65 6c 6c 6f 20 74 68 65 72 65 21 ; 'Hello there!' in raw view >> foo: >> ... >> call basic_ostream::operator<< >> >> If you'll make your solution portable between MSVC and GCC compilers - >> you're almost certanly in :) >> >> >> -- >> Best regards, >> Antony Polukhin >> > > -- Best regards, Antony Polukhin

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[git] Jamfile in repository
by Karsten Ahnert 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

Hi, can we put a Jamfile and/or a Jamroot in git repository of a boost library? We develop odeint in a separate github repository and we have a Jamroot there to build the library without the boost super-project. To merge our changes into the official boost odeint repository we want to pull from the development repository. I am a bit afraid that this Jamfile/Jamroot might disturb the build process of boost.

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[Range] Are pull request in github being considered?
by Gonzalo BG 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

There are 3 pull-request in github with zero comments, none closed, and the oldest is 3 months old (one is from me). Are they being considered or should one submit patches for Boost.Range over trac? The FAQ doesn't say anything about the preferred way to submit patches and the modular boost documentation mentions pull-request as valid options, but I would like to be sure that I sent my patch through the preferred channel. Bests, Gonzalo BG

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Standard c++ XML parser API (Boost.XML)
by Saksham Maheshwari 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

Hey guys, As part of this year's GSOC, I am interested in developing a Standard c++ XML parser for Boost (Boost.XML project in Ideas Page). What I have encountered till now, there are many libraries which could be used for parsing XML file, but there is no Standard XML API in c++ to do the same, contrary to other languages like Java or python. I think this is an appropriate place to discuss about this API and then develop it. Since a past couple of days, I have been reading and understanding the existing Boost.xml (sandbox project) and Arabica project. What I think now is that there is no need to develop such an API from scratch, it would just be a wastage of our resources, else we could use the existing codes to develop such an API. We can use multiple backends supported in Arabica API and merge it with out existing Boost.XML to make such a standard API, so that it can adapted to a wide range of existing XML libraries. Also, the SAX implementation of Boost.XML has to be changed and it has to be implemented/modified (i.e. reader API), comparing it with Arabica::SAX. DOM API is working very fine. So, according to me, the possible tasks will be 1. To enhance or change the SAX implementation of Boost.XML 2. To provide multiple backends to this API. But for now, I want to know what you guys think about the idea. Thanks, Saksham Maheshwari PS: I want to develop an API, not a library :-)

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GSoC14: Projects currently needing potential mentors
by Niall Douglas 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

Dear Boost, The following GSoC 14 project proposals are currently lacking potential mentors. If you'd like to mentor one of these proposals, please go to https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2014, register as a mentor using the bottom link and ask the Boost C++ org for a role. 1. Suffix array Data Structure by Prabhat Kumar 2. Path Planner Library by Pritam Khan 3. Boost.Fixed-Point by Nikhar Agrawal Thanks, Niall --- Boost C++ Libraries Google Summer of Code 2014 admin https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/SoC2014

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Boost.Odeint Proposal GSoC 2014
by Animesh Gaitonde 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

Hi everyone, I have added my proposal on melange.Kindly have a look at it.I will be glad to receive a feedback regarding my proposal Here is a link to my proposal :-https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/proposal/review/student/google/gsoc2014/animesh371/5629499534213120 Let me know if there are any visibility issues. Regards & Thanks Animesh Gaitonde 4th year Undergraduate Bits-Pilani Goa Campus

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[admin] Communicating with other write access contributors to a library
by Edward Diener 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

What is the proper way to communicate with other contributors of a library with write access under modular-boost in GitHub ? Is there a list of all write access members for a particular Boost library ?

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[Parallel Algorithms] Queries regarding the Boost.Thread / Parallel algorithms
by NAVEEN NAMASHIVAYAM 19 Mar '14

19 Mar '14

Hi, I am interested in the implementation of parallel algorithms. From given documentation in http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG21/docs/papers/2012/n3429.pdf I could understand the basic crux of the project. But the part which I was not able to figure from the documentation are these; 1. The type of network layer or the communication layer to be used. Can we make use of GASNet or ARMCI as the communication layer and build of ideas on it? Or do we have any specific library to work on this? 2. And the implementation of parallel_for and parallel_for_each, are we trying to mimic the available functionality from the parallel programming models like OpenMP? How far are these functions different from them. 3. Should we analyze about compiler optimizations. Because once these external parallel libraries are called; this necessarily means all the compiler optimizations within this parallel region should be excluded or else the complexity of the parallel library would be increased. Please confirm whether, my understanding is correct or am i looking at the project in a completely unrelated way. Regards, *NAVEEN* | Mobile: 832-720-2393 | about.me <http://about.me/naveen.namashivayam> |

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