Re: [Boost-users] Re: RTTI for VC 6

From: Samuel (samuel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-08-16 06:34:43

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Abrahams" <dave_at_[hidden]>
To: <boost-users_at_[hidden]>
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 3:33 AM
Subject: [Boost-users] Re: RTTI for VC 6

> I took this:
>
> > That problem is probably a known problem, but something such as the
> > following can be added somewhere to not allow a VC 6 program to even
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > compile if the RTTI option is off. I think it could make things a
> > little easier for some beginners.
> >
> > #  if !defined(_CPPRTTI)
> > #      error "Boost requires use of RTTI"
> > #  endif
>
> to be a request that Boost be patched to prevent compilation without
> RTTI.  It didn't seem like a suggestion for beginners to do
> themselves; a            fteralltheycanturnonRTTIjustaseasily.DidI
> misinterpret your post?

Right, it is not something a beginner should expect to do. However my point,
whether valid or not, is that I am a beginner, and it is much, much more
convenient for me to send to this list and monitor this list for replies.

As far as being able to turn on RTTI, yes it is easy; however if a person is
not familiar with that option then they can get a strange and/or irrelevant
runtime error, with no clue to the cause. It is the relative difficulty in
understanding the problem that is the issue.

If it is not an easy fix to the libraries to issue a warning or an error
message, then I can understand that it is not worth doing. Something I did
not mention that probably is easy and worthwhile is to update the relevant
portion of the documentation that lists the idiosyncrasies of VC 6; I don't
remember seeing it at least.