Re: [Boost-Users] Re: building threads lib with latest from CVS

From: William E. Kempf (wekempf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-02-11 09:56:50

> 
> From: "hunleyexpress <mhunley_at_[hidden]>" <mhunley_at_[hidden]>
> Date: 2003/02/10 Mon PM 03:47:57 EST
> To: Boost-Users_at_[hidden]
> Subject: [Boost-Users] Re: building threads lib with latest from CVS
> 
> > Intentionally removed.  In the current library it's easier to deal 
> with a single build type, and since a DLL is required for TLS usage, 
> the static build was removed.  In the next version of the library, 
> the implementation is going to have to make use of TLS as well, so 
> you'll always need a DLL, making it pointless to continue providing 
> both a static library and the threadmon.dll.
> > 
> 
> If you mean something other than Transport Layer Security when you 
> say TLS, disregard the rest of this and just let me know what it 
> means in boost-ese.

Sorry, I forget that some acronyms aren't known by everyone.  TLS stands for "thread local storage", also known as TSS or "thread specific storage".

> I don't quite understand why the threading lib 
> depends on TLS.  I am only including the threading lib to write 
> thread handling and don't want or need security aspects (I'm handling 
> those specifically myself for a custom app).  I ultimately need to 
> bundle all of it into a *very* small DLL (or shared lib on Linux) of 
> my own and don't want to require a separate boost DLL.  Why would you 
> tie the two together, they seem completely orthoganal.  BTW: I have 
> found it rather easy to have Jam build both.  I guess it is just more 
> headache from a testing standpoint.
> I appreciate the info.

Testing and development.  I compile against 5 compilers, and with both static and dynamic libraries this means compiling 10 variants at a minimum (through in both debug and release and you have 20 variants), which is time consuming.  But the real kicker is that boost::thread itself is going to rely on TLS shortly, making it so you'll always need a DLL on the Windows platforms.
 

William E. Kempf
wekempf_at_[hidden]