On 7 Oct 2025 23:46, Mungo Gill wrote:
For (a) we sacrifice consistency between C++ versions where for (c) we sacrifice consistency with the standard library. Neither option is ideal.
I think, on balance, consistency with the standard library is more important than consistency between C++ versions. Users will expect static_string to behave consistently with std::string, particularly if writing generic code, which means to_*_string functions behaving consistently.
When changing C++ versions users are going to have to deal with the to_string behaviour change anyway so to_static_string behaviour changes won’t be too much of a surprise.
For the record I was *not* a fan of WG21 changing the behaviour of to_string but that ship has sailed.
As a Boost library we can do better than copying std flaws. Users of Boost should (and, IMHO, are) prepared that Boost and std components may differ in some ways, and in fact it is these differences that may be the reason they choose one or the other. If we know we want one behavior over the other, I don't see conformance with std as a compelling factor to choose the less preferable solution.