Frank wrote:

Hi all,

I have a shared_ptr to an object that changes (the underlying object is non-const, that is, not the shared_ptr), and I'd like to serialize the object each time it changes (size of the archive is not an issue). The problem stems, I think, from object tracking: every time after the first serialization, boost detects that the pointer is the same, and does not write out the (full, updated) object.

I've tried putting in BOOST_CLASS_TRACKING(T, boost::serialization::track_never) but it won't compile because there is a BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT in shared_ptr.hpp that prevents setting class T's tracking to track_never if it is then serialized via a shared_ptr, with the comment that "correct shared_ptr serialization depends upon object tracking being used."

Am I missing something obvious here,..?

It might be obvious now but it will be if you think about it. Suppose you have one object pointed to by two different points. Now suppose you don't track this pointer. When you load, you won't have a shared pointer anymore. That is you'll have two objects instead of the orginal one. And each "shared_ptr" won't be shared anymore. So after loading things will be quite different than they were when you saved. Robert Ramey

Thanks, Frank