Re: [Boost-users] [serialisation]Portable Binary Archives

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-06-27 14:25:38

Cliff Green wrote:
> that I'd like a way to use a binary archive that doesn't
> have the "metadata" that is normally provided in
> serialization archives - I want to be able to read / write
> or send / receive buffers of packed binary data where I
> have complete control over every byte - I don't want type
> ids, version numbers, pointer sharing semantics, etc
> (unless I explicitly put them in my code). I realize this
> is an orthogonal concern to the portable binary mechanics,
> but I wouldn't be surprised if the users and applications
> wanting compact and efficient binary archives overlap
> significantly with the users and apps wanting control of
> every byte in the stream.

One of the stated goals/requirements of the serialization
library is that it handle any collections of data structures
that can be expressed in C++.  I couldn't figure out how
to do this without object tags.  Having said that, object
tags are emitted only when the serialized data structures
require it.

versioning is optional and be suppressed.  However
doing so always turns out to be a bad idea.

So I believe that your requirements conflict in a
fundamental way with those explicitly state for
the serialization library.  I suspect that it's not a
good solution for you.

Robert Ramey
>
> Cliff