Re: [Boost-users] boost build interface

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] boost build interface
From: Rudolf Leitgeb (r.leitgeb_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-04-09 05:37:22

> Qt application with static linking is gonna weight about 2MB. Does
> this sound acceptable? Probably it is.
>
> The KDE project is working on windows installer for KDE, which is
> capable of getting necessary third party libraries. I imagine this
> might be good for Boost -- for example, libz is not commonly installed
> on Windows. However, I have no idea how easy it would be to adjust
> that.

It depends on what we aim for. If we want the perfect GUI which allows
complete noobs to install boost on any platform, we're up for a huge  
task,
and as far as I have read here, while a few are excited about HAVING a
graphical installer, much fewer are eager and ready to WRITE one.

IMHO an installer in its first stage should:
- allow picking on of a few configurations (debug, release, shared,  
static)
- (optionally) allow picking a subset to be built (what bcp does now)
- allow picking a directory where the results are written to
- allow picking the C++ compiler to be used (gcc, mingw, icc, vs, ...)
- allow addition of custom compiler switches
- tell the user if necessary libraries are missing, optionally locations
        where those libraries can be found
- point the user to this mailing list if the configuration he/she needs
        is not supported by the GUI, e.g. cross compilation, new compilers,
        new platforms, whatever ...
        
If we could settle with this minimal feature set, we could easily
slap together a GUI front end, or alternatively, do the same with
a web page, as dhruva suggested (I like the idea a lot).

Rudi