Re: [boost] On Boost and modules

On Tue, Apr 9, 2024 at 9:33 AM Boris Kolpackov via Boost wrote:

Andrey Semashev via Boost writes:

...

It doesn't make sense to have to build the whole Boost into a module only to pull a small part from it. I would much rather include the headers I want instead.

I actually don't think having a single/only `boost` module would be the right way to modularize Boost. I would suggest having a module per library (at least; maybe even more granular, say for Spirit, which is actually three libraries in one).

Yes, definitely a module per library. I would avoid the sub-modules. Probably not worth the pain and it would be more confusing to users.

And a single `boost` module that re-exports them all. Users who want all of Boost, can import `boost`, those like you who want to carefully manage their dependencies can import more granular modules. And, at least in build2, we only build BMIs that are actually used (imported).

I would strongly discourage a singular `boost` module. There are too many ways to subset boost that would cause confusion as to what `import boost;` means.

(This brings an interesting question: if I import `boost`, but only use a small subset of libraries, how do I know which ones I should be linking. Trial and error until there are no more unresolved symbols feels a bit stone age.)

Yeah, let's not corner our way into such issues. -- -- René Ferdinand Rivera Morell -- Don't Assume Anything -- No Supone Nada -- Robot Dreams - http://robot-dreams.net