Slight Alteration to Boost Directory Structure

From: Simon Bailey conic_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-01-07 18:29:51

I've been using boost for about a year now.  I upgraded from 27 to 
28 and appreciated the backwards compatability.  But I'm wondering 
if a slight modification to the directory structure is in order?

I have written a cross-platform class library.  The library provides 
high-level business objects and comes bundled with boost 1.28.0 to 
provide support for threads, CRC, shared_ptr, and function (or 
whatever else the end user might want).

Currently, users need to add two directories to their #include 
search path:
include/boost
include/sb_library

Then, in their source code:
#include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
#include <boost/thread/thread.hpp>
#include <sb_library/business_facet/business_object.h>

Two problems (albeit very minor ones!)
1. Boost has two levels of includes (due to it's history of course).
2. Each library bundled with boost means another #include search 
path needs to be added.

Proposed solution:
1. Create a single boost include directory instead of having the two 
nested ones that there are now.
2. Put all boost headers into a sub-directory of boost
eg <boost/ptr/shared_ptr.hpp>, <boost/thread/thread.hpp>.  (It's a 
small change for existing users to change their includes).
3. Place all src, documentation etc. into a directory within boost 
called "private" or something.

Suggested directory structure:

--include // This is the only directory needed to be specified in 
the #include search path
----other_library1
----other_library2
----boost 
-------ptr
-------thread
-------private
----------documentation
----------src
----------thread

In other words, you will have <boost/ptr/...> and <boost/thread/...> 
but never <boost/private/...>.

I think it's worth breaking the backwards compatability a little in 
order to bring the older boost headers in line with the directory 
structure of the newer ones like thread.  I also think enabling a 
single include path for multiple libraries is useful.

Cheers
Simon