Re: [Boost-build] Boost build improvements

Subject: Re: [Boost-build] Boost build improvements
From: Michael Caisse (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-25 01:58:25

Wesley Johnson wrote:
> I am on this mailing list because I had problems building Boost, and I still
> do not have a working Boost after 6 months of poking at it.
> I am working on a free-software release of my own, spending my time on that,
> so I do not have time to dive into Boost problems now.
> I have a Linux system, and I did not expect to have that much trouble with
> this.
>   

Really? Seriously? I normally don't reply to FUD like this but IIRC
your problem was using a compiler that barely supports C++ in its
current form. Ah, yes... here it is from April 30th:

-------------------------------------
>   gcc 3.3.6

This is a pretty old compiler, released on May 3, 2005. You
can be sure to get issues with it.

-------------------------------------

Complete with a reply from Volodya.

Three days later you post again and are using the same compiler. Rene
is kind enough to provide some feedback. You ask if there is "a new
C++ language standard to which Boost is written. ??? "

Well, modern c++ and Boost in particular is a bit cruel to C++ compilers.
In particular, it utilizes all the corners of the language specification
which has a tendency to break non-compliant compilers. There are a lot of
work arounds for these ... but a 5-year-old compiler is on the edge of
not being supported in the Boost source for many libraries.

Rene suggested that you run bjam --debug-configuration so we might be
able to help. I might have missed something, but I don't see that you
have posted since then.

Getting angry about things not working but not accepting the help offered
seems rather useless. If you cannot use tools (compilers) that are modern
enough to work with Boost you may actually need to not use Boost. Or
re-implement the required parts. I had to do this a few years back myself.
It was painful.

So, I'm really not sure what you are suggesting. That Boost
supports 5-year-old compilers and fixes problems in which users don't 
provide
adequate feedback? Or do you want to make sure that a re-write is entirely
in pre-C99 C code so most compilers will work with it?

Regards -
michael

-- 
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Michael Caisse
Object Modeling Designs
www.objectmodelingdesigns.com