Re: [Flightgear-devel] heads up: Boost dependency

[Tatsuhiro N. <tat...@gm...>]

Hi, 

On Nov 21, 2008, at 10:08 PM, Tim Moore wrote:
>>> From Mac OS side, there seems no problem in using headers of any
>> version of Boost as long as FlightGear works fine. I'll just grab it
>> and build FG with boost headers. No difficulties. However, if we're
>> going to use boost libraries before the next official release, I need
>> to make sure the binary works on at least some Macs, including
>> ppc/intel and OS X 10.4/10.5. Probably it needs some weeks to collect
>> feedbacks.
> I've just checked a change to configure.ac that checks for a minimum version of 
> Boost, looks for it in all the right places, properly supports --with-boost, 
> etc. I know that you don't use configure for the Mac builds, but this should 
> ease the vast majority of problems for Linux users.

Yes, and configure.ac doesn't affect anything on Mac binary.
I also built fgfs with boost header, and there was no build problems.

>> So I want to hear Tim's (and others') opinion about:
>> (1) what are the pros in using Boost especially in FlightGear.
>> If that doesn't give us any improvement in quality (like
>> maintainability, testability, usability, response, performance or
>> whatever you name it) or functionality in a clear way, we can live
>> without it, at least until the next official release (or until the
>> next release branch is made).
>>
> I've stated this before, a couple of different times. It provides many 
> advantages in terms of convenience and cross-platform compatibility. In terms of 
> maintainability and testing, I consider it a great advantage to leave those 
> things to a much larger community where possible. The use of Boost in the 
> currently checked-in sources is completely gratuitous, but in the future it will 
> not be. I think it's a reasonable first step, and is certainly shaking out 
> problems :)

That is a good idea. cross-platform compatibility can reduce the time for debugging / testing.
I also saw your proposal again and understood. it is a reasonable choice to me.


>> (2) Are we going to use boost libraries in the near future?
>> Hope not until the next release.
> Certainly not until after the release. If a library (as opposed to a header 
> file) is useful, we should use it and solve the build issues.

Excellent. It saves my time in checking if it works on many Macs.

Best,

Tat