Deprecating tools/prebuilt.jam and <file> feature

From: Vladimir Prus (ghost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-12-17 01:55:17

Hello,
I propose that we deprecate tools/prebuilt.jam and the <file> feature for the 
next release, the remove them altogether the next release after. The <file> 
feature is used to write things like

lib a : : <file>a.so ;

which means the library file is already created and there's not need to build 
anything. However, the same effect can be achieved with

alias a : a.so ;

so tools/prebuilt.jam is just hidden code duplication. There's one slight 
difference. If one writes:

lib a : : <file>a.so <threading>single ;

then <threading>single will be attached to the generated target, so when 
building with <threading>multi, a warning about link-incompatibility will be 
issued. For 'alias', no warning will be created. However, I feel this is 
orthogonal issue, and if it needs to be addressed, it's easier when there's 
no code duplication.

Opinions?

- Volodya