On 27 January 2017 at 13:23, Jonathan Wakely wrote:
The link http://downloads.sourceforge.net/boost/boost_1_63_0.tar.bz2 redirects to http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/snapshots/master/boost_... which seems to be a snapshot from master, and VERY different to the boost_1_63_0 release (which makes it a VERY misleading URL).
How often is that snapshot updated?
Shouldn't it have a different name if it's not boost_1_63_0.tar.bz2 but some completely different set of sources (which currently don't even build)?
The Fedora Linux packages have been using that URL, for several years by the look of things. So I have no idea what arbitrary collection of changes we've been shipping instead of a proper release.
OK, I've found https://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/snapshots/master/ which explains they're snapshots. I still think having those tarballs called "boost_1_63_0" is insane, when it's not that release at all. Can't you append "-snapshot" or a date to the name or something? And I also think having http://downloads.sourceforge.net/boost/boost_1_63_0.tar.bz2 redirect to a snapshot is rather sneaky, as there's no indication you're using a snapshot not a release. Has it always been like that, or did it change with http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2016/08/230528.php ? I see I'm not the first to ask for this: http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2016/08/230532.php http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2016/08/230535.php says "I agree that the current pattern may lead to confusion." YES. YES IT DOES.