Re: [Boost-users] Boost: Getting Started on Windows

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Marsh Ray wrote:

On 09/27/2010 02:40 AM, Daniel James wrote:

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On 26 September 2010 18:43, Olivier Bertrand  wrote:

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c:\boost_1_44\boost\config\suffix.hpp(588) : error C2039: 'typeinfo' : is not a member of '`global namespace'' c:\boost_1_44\boost\config\suffix.hpp(588) : error C2873: 'typeinfo' : symbol cannot be used in a using-declaration

It looks like this change broke Boost.Config on VC6:

https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/61434

If that's true then very little of Boost 1.44 will work on that compiler, since almost everything depends on the config headers. Is it worth fixing? Something like this was inevitable once testing stopped.

As a long time Boost user (yes, even since the VC6 days) I suggest that Boost make an explicit policy change.

Not only should VC6 be deprecated, not supported, and otherwise ignored in Boost, but all its vestigial compatibility workaround code should be actively ripped out!

It's largely clutter at this point, and these breaks are evidence that it's poorly maintained and not used or tested much either. A dangerous breeding ground for bugs.

This is when somebody raises their hand and says "But I need VC6 because it's the only way I can build something for these military embedded WinCE98 things we're still contractually obligated to support for another 13 years". We should all be very sympathetic, but that application should probably stay on the last Boost release that works for them.

Just think how much fun it will be to grep for those VC6 macros and submit all those negative-LoC patches!

Also speaking as a user of Boost since using VC6, +1 VC6 was such a horrible system, so much code could be cleaned up if its support were stripped out.