Re: The right configuration mechanism

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-08-13 10:03:24

Andrey Melnikov <melnikov_at_[hidden]> writes:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> Andrey Melnikov <melnikov_at_[hidden]> writes:
>> 
>>>Also we cannot rely on the registry even for MSVC because private 
>>>installations don't use it.

What's a "private installation?" An installation "for this user only?"

>> Nobody mentioned *relying* on it. The user's explicit configurations
>> will always take precedence.
>> 
> By "relying" I mean cancelling the old autodetection method using 
> environment variables. We cannot cancel it because the registry still 
> can fail.

IMO we can cancel any auto configuration we want, since there is
always manual configuration. It may not make sense to support the
complexity of two autodetection mechanisms.

> With default VS installations the environment always work. In specific 
> cases both environment and registry fail. Now I doubt that we should use 
> registry autodetection. It isn't less fragile than the environment.

It isn't?? IIUC even non-default VS installations set the registry. The
installer gives you the option to *not* set up the environment, so I'd
think the registry would be the more reliable of the two.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com