On 7 Jul 2025 15:45, Artyom Beilis via Boost wrote:
Removing C++03 compatability from many libraries and breaking Boost.ASIO in 1.87 seriously damaged the Boost reputation.
Boost breaking compatibility is the Achilles heel of Boost since I remember it (around 1.33) and it had never changed. It makes Boost highly problematic - almost irrelevant for any long term C++ project that needs to run over a large range of platforms that provide its own Boost. More than that, Boost is almost impossible to use in libraries or other interfaces because of breaking API/ABI virtually in any situation.
FWIW, I've been actively using Boost in the projects I worked on for around 25 years now. Those were long-term projects, some lasted for a decade or more (while I worked on them) and some gradually transitioned from C++03 to C++17 in their lifetime. And yes, the Boost version that was used was being regularly upgraded while the projects were maintained and developed. And yes, we were building Boost ourselves. Granted, in those projects, we didn't care about ABI stability, but as for API stability, it's been surprisingly smooth considering the age and amount of changes that go into Boost. My experience may be subjective and not very representative, given that I'm also a Boost maintainer, but I really can't say that using Boost was "impossible" or "highly problematic". I admit there are use cases where ABI is much more important, but I also do not think stable ABI is a mandatory requirement in every use case. Stable ABI also has a cost; maintaining it just for the sake of it is a waste of effort and an obstacle to library evolution.