Dan Bikel wrote:

The following tiny program generates two compiler errors on FC 5 (which comes with g++ 4.1.1 and boost 1.33.1):

#include <iostream> #include <fstream> #include <string> #include #include #include

using namespace std; using namespace boost;

int main(int argc, char **argv) { string * pFoo = new string("foo"); ofstream ofs("strfile"); { archive::text_oarchive oa(ofs); oa << pFoo; } }

Error No. 1: /usr/include/boost/archive/detail/oserializer.hpp:567: error: invalid application of -1òøsizeofòù to incomplete type òøboost::STATIC_ASSERTION_FAILURE<false>

Error No. 2: /usr/include/boost/serialization/access.hpp:109: error: -1òøstruct std::basic_string

...

òù has no member named òøserializeòù

Error No. 1 can be fixed by making pFoo a const pointer type, i.e., by changing the declaration/assignment statement to be string *const pFoo = new string("foo");

I cannot figure out why such a change is necessary, as the serialization library documentation does not indicate that it is necessary to make pointers const in order to serialize them (as is borne out by the demo.cpp code). Also, I cannot figure out how to fix Error No. 2.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks, Dan.

Robert Ramey wrote:

...

Error No. 1 can be fixed by making pFoo a const pointer type, i.e., by changing the declaration/assignment statement to be string *const pFoo = new string("foo");

I cannot figure out why such a change is necessary, as the serialization library documentation does not indicate that it is necessary to make pointers const in order to serialize them (as is borne out by the demo.cpp code).

This is explained in the "Rationale" section of the documentation.

Okay, I read through the (long) scenario described in the Rationale section, and I guess I agree with this design decision, but in the main documentation--the Tutorial section in particular--there should not be code snippets that are incorrect. I'm thinking of the example in the "Pointers" section of the tutorial, where the sample code shows *non-const* bus_stop pointers being serialized in order to serialize "bus_route" objects. At the very least, you should have correct code and a hyperlink to the Rationale section explaining why the const is there. Anyway, I don't mean this to sound harsh, because I'm very grateful for your prompt answer to my question! --Dan.