Re: [Boost-users] multi_index uses serialization?

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-02-26 21:31:12

I never realized this before.  Truth is I never really looked at multi-index 
because
I haven't needed it yet.  But this post raises some questions in my mind.

This means that the default is that any usage of multi-index includes 
serialization
library headers regardless of whether boost serialization is to be used. 
This seems
to me awkward for those that want to minimize dependencies, compile times,
etc.  It seems that it would also confuse things if one wanted to use a 
different
serialization system other than the Boost one. When doing the serialization 
of
std:: collections, I made headers of the form boost/serializaton/vector.hpp, 
etc.
If course I couldn't mess with the headers std::vector.hpp, 
boost::shared_ptr, etc.
But it seemed most  natural to me as it only required code to be included 
that
the programmer had made a deliberate decision to use.  Given this I sort
of expected to see boost/multi-index:/serialization/hashed_index.hpp or
maybe boost/serialization/multi-index/hashed_index.hpp.  These of course
would include boost/multi-index/hashed_index.hpp etc as needed.

I'm not campaigning for any change.  Its just that I thing my way of doing 
it
is better.

This seems related to a short discussion that occurred some time ago
regarding the appeal of "convenience headers" which make sure
that everything one might need is included under the short name.
Some people hate 'em (e.g. me) and some people love 'em.

I also think that as boost grows, the disadvantages of "including
every thing that might be useful" will be more apparent.

Robert Ramey

"JOAQUIN LOPEZ MU?Z" wrote:

> Furthermore, if for whatever reason you don't even
> want for Boost.MultiIndex to include any
> Boost.Serialization-related header (for instance,
> if you're using a partial copy of the Boost distro
> without the serialization stuff), this can be done
> by defining the macro
>
>   BOOST_MULTI_INDEX_DISABLE_SERIALIZATION
>
> either globally (in your project settings or compiler
> commandline) or in each relevant .cpp prior to the
> inclusion of Boost.MultiIndex headers.