Re: [Boost-users] [Thread][win32, msvc] Mutexes

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [Thread][win32, msvc] Mutexes
From: Anthony Williams (anthony.ajw_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-09-28 12:54:55

"Peter Dimov" <pdimov_at_[hidden]> writes:

> Anthony Williams:
>
>>> If not so, what's the reason for boost::detail::lightweight_mutex to
>>> exist ?
>>
>> I think it's a historic artifact from versions of boost.thread prior
>> to 1.35.0 when boost::mutex required linking to the thread library,
>> which allowed mutexes to be used in header-only boost libraries.
>
> True. "lightweight" was an unfortunate name; it's only lightweight in
> that it doesn't require a library build step. It's in the detail::
> namespace, so this should be enough of a hint that it's only an
> implementation detail of other Boost libraries and is not meant to be
> used directly.
>
>> I'll leave it to Peter to comment on whether he thinks it's still
>> required and why.
>
> I just tried a simple #include <boost/thread/mutex.hpp> under MSVC,
> and I got (a) <windows.h> included and (b) an autolink reference to
> libboost_thread (which surprised me; it used to "only" autolink to
> libboost_datetime). 

The windows.h include comes from boost.datetime. Hopefully it'll go
soon.

The auto-link against libboost_thread is surprising to me, but I
rarely use just boost mutexes in an app. I'll investigate.

Hopefully Jeff will figure out a way to selectively autolink
libboost_datetime too, as it's not really required for the thread
stuff.

Anthony
-- 
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