Re: [Boost-users] [serialization, archive] Serialize boost::shared_ptr to custom archive

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [serialization, archive] Serialize boost::shared_ptr to custom archive
From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-03-10 12:56:23

Stefan Strasser wrote:
> Am 10.03.2013 01:27, schrieb Silviu P:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm trying to serialize a boost::shared_ptr to a custom archive. The
>> compiler complains about the archive missing methods 'append' and
>> 'reset'. Does anyone know where I should look to find out more
>> information about these two methods?
>
> Derive your archive class from detail::shared_ptr_helper, defined in
> archive/shared_ptr_helper.hpp, and it should work.
>
> As to why this is undocumented and in namespace detail I can only
> speculate, but this is what the other archive classes do.

I can explain this.

shared_ptr does not fullfil the type requirements for a serializable object.
That is, it doesn't model the serializable concept.  So I had to include
special archive code to permit serialization of shared_ptr.  This is
the only place in the library where there is a coupling between archive
classes and any object type to be serialized.

The real fix is to modify the serialization library to include the facility
built for shared_ptr in a generic manner.  This is doable but would
require some work.  It would also require expansion of the documentation
and "serializable" concept.  And of course tests etc.  It's not a huge
project, but it's not trivial either.  And sooner or later it's going to be
necessary to accomodate std::shared_ptr.

Robert Ramey