"Beman Dawes"
At 09:19 PM 12/31/2002, Edward Diener wrote: On one hand, it is a always nice if Boost libraries work with default compiler switches. OTOH, we really want to push in the direction of increased standards compliance, and that may mean requiring switches.
FWIW, some people within Microsoft are pushing for the increased compliance switches like -Zc:wchar_t to become the default in the release after 7.1.
A possible solution, but one that entails more work, is to support both for VC++ with slightly different library names, one with C++ native wchar_t support and the other without. This involves more builds and more libraries distributed for VC++ but will not leave the end user in the lurch who does not match the option chosen when the library is built.
I'll leave that decision to John Maddock and the others most directly affected.
Perhaps the decision should be made consistent throughout any Boost library exporting wchar_t functionality. A new Boost macro might be able to enforce it for VC++ 7.0 and higher throughout Boost. I am sure it would be disconcerting to end users to find that Boost implementation X, which uses wchar_t for VC++, uses it one way while Boost implementation Y, which uses wchar_t for VC++, uses it the opposite way. I too agree that the native C++ wchar_t in VC++ 7 and higher should be the default for further Boost releases. It is important that end-users are told of this change, where applicable, if it is made.