August 2008 - Boost - lists.preview.boost.org

Re: [boost] New libraries should provide forward declarations? (Benoit))
by rtsweng-sw＠yahoo.com 25 Aug '08

25 Aug '08

>>>That would make it possible to easily separate the compilation of >>>boost classes (or at least their methods) from that of user-defined >>>classes. >> No, unfortunately, it wouldn't, because you have to pull in the >> definitions to use the template class, what you want is precompiled >> headers. >This is not exactly true. I already use such an approach in my own >developments. >The idea is to use concepts to make sure that the right member >functions are called inside a cpp file and therefore will be compiled >and usable everywhere.That would mean pulling in all related >implementation details... But only for one compilation unit (created >with that purpose in mind). Other compilation units would only have >access to template class definitions. For that matter, i personally >use the .h extension for template class definitions and .hpp for >template class method definitions (but that's only an example of what >could be done). >Note that i agree that it would also bring a readability benefit to >the source code. >BenoÃ®t This sounds exactly like what I am trying to do, I already split the declarations into .h files and the definitions into .hpp. Can you give a brief example of using a single .cpp file for compilation? Is this done like MSVC stdafx files? Thanks, Robert ________________________________

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[Release] Supported platforms are...?
by Gennaro Prota 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

In <http://www.boost.org/development/tests/release/developer/summary.html> I just see seven platform/compiler combinations. Are these the only ones officially supported for release(s)? -- Genny

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Lag of trunk tests?
by Gennaro Prota 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

I'm watching the trunk regression summary for several days and almost all the tests are reportedly stale at 19-21 August. If I go, for instance, to <http://www.boost.org/development/tests/trunk/Sandia-sun.html> it says that tests are run *nightly* (incidentally, it also doesn't tell anything about the gcc invocation). What's wrong? -- Genny

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[FileSystem.path] has_branch_path() not found
by Ming 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

Hi all, I try to use boost 1.36 instead of 1.33 to compile libtorrent library. But I got a error of "error C2039: 'has_branch_path' : is not a member of 'boost::filesystem::basic_path<String,Traits>' " I cannot find the function in boost\filesystem\path.hpp in version 1.36, but can find in in 1.33. Does has_branch_path() is deprecated in the new version library? Or it is moved to other classes? Yours, CMing

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[C++-sig][BGL] python bindings for intel compiler
by Sandeep Gupta 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

Hi, I haven't been able to create correct python bindings for BGL for intel compiler. Will greatly appreciate any help as it has been more than four months since I first encountered the problem. The python bindings in the tutorial and examples work fine. The bgl_python code from the sandbox compiles smoothly. I believe I have set the PYTHONPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH correctly. But the import of boost.graph fails with following error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "...../bgl-python/lib/python/boost/graph/__init__.py", line 16, in <module> from boost.graph._graph import * ImportError: "...../bgl-python/lib/python/boost/graph/_graph.so: undefined symbol: _ZN5boost5graph6python11basic_graphINS_11undirectedSEED1Ev" Thanks, Sandeep

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Trying to make an all-Boost header/library
by Daryle Walker 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

I started out making a group Boost project for Xcode, so I can compile Boost.Test and S11N just once and include them in my other projects. Then I wondered how far can I take this. 1. I tried including all the sources in the libs/ directory. 2. It seems that there is source code in the detail, function-types, and smart_ptr that we don't really need, so I've now excluded it. (The function-types one needed the Wave _tool_ to be created, so I really hope it's not needed.) 3. Just like Linux has various package installers (apt-get, etc.), so does Mac OS X. I originally had Fink, but switched to MacPorts. Dowloaded packages include: bzip2, docbook, doxygen, expat, fop, ghostscript, graphviz, icu, libxml1, openmpi, subversion, texlive, and zlib. 4. I generally have one static library file for each Boost library. For libraries that need another, I made the corresponding targets dependencies, but I didn't link the results together. 5. The test library gets three static libraries. They all include a "main" or something like it, so I'll probably make a custom fourth library for a grand Boost library file. 6. The graph library has extra support for Expat, which I included from MacPorts. Should I leave that out for a publicly distributed grand Boost library file, since I can't guarantee a general user having it? 7. The iostreams library has extra support for bzip2 and zlib, which I originally included from MacPorts. I realized that my system (Mac OS X 10.4, PowerPC) includes copies of those libraries and headers, so I switched to those. This means that I can safely include them in a grand Boost library, right? 8. I left out the long-double versions of the math functions because they're disabled on my system. Should I try (conditionally?) including them on Intel-builds since I think they're supported there? How do I do that? 9. I have the MPI library built because I have OpenMPI through MacPorts. Should I leave that out of a grand Boost library? 10. For the Python library, I tried connecting to the OS's Python.framework. 11. Because of [9] and [10], I made the MPI-Python library too. I guess its status for a grand Boost library depends on the answer for [9]. 12. Does anyone have any idea how to create a Python extension? I did a very quick read of the docs and couldn't get it. So I just made a shared library for the MPI extension for Python and included the applicable static libraries and framework. (It seems you are supposed to use a special Python script, and _never_ manually.) Since I made a final product, I had to link in my static libraries for MPI, Python, MPI-Python, and S11N, then link the OpenMPI libraries from MacPorts, then the system's Python framework, then a surprise need for some Open libraries also from MacPorts. 13. For the regex library, I defined having ICU, and included it from MacPorts. Should I leave out ICU support in a grand Boost library? Actually, I think the system has buried copies of Expat and ICU, but I don't know how to reach them, or if it's even possible. Maybe I should try making a framework of all of Boost, modulo the answers on what I should include above. Should I somehow include object-code for the parts of the Test library that bring a "main"? Or do I have to tell the user to get the framework, then download regular Boost to build what's needed for Testing (or MPI, MPI/Python, Graph/Expat, or Regex/ICU)? I think I would have to make a "boost/boost.hpp" overall header to be the focal point of the framework, which may be a good idea to create anyway. How would I test it? Hmm, would anyone here like to take a challenge to create a program that uses ALL of Boost, so every symbol gets exercised? -- Daryle Walker Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie darylew AT hotmail DOT com

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[smart_ptr] Is smart_ptr header only?
by Daryle Walker 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

When trying to make an all-Boost huge library, I found some src/*.cpp files in smart_ptr's libs directory. Are these official, or can I leave them out? -- Daryle Walker Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie darylew AT hotmail DOT com

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Error in setup_boostbook.sh
by Manuel Fiorelli 24 Aug '08

24 Aug '08

setup_boostbook.sh (and probably the python script) fails because it attempts to download FOP using the (not existing) URL http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/apache/xmlgraphics/fop/fop-0.94-bin-… instead of http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/apache/xmlgraphics/fop/binaries/fop-… It simply misses the /binaries component inside the path. Regards, Manuel Fiorelli

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[review] FSM Review extended until August 27th
by Martin Vuille 23 Aug '08

23 Aug '08

By request, the formal review for Andrey Semashev's Finite State Machines (FSM) library has been extended and will run until August 27th. This is your last chance to submit a review and cast your vote for or against inclusion of this library into Boost. The documentation (overview and reference) is available online: http://boost-extension.redshoelace.com/docs/boost/fsm/doc/state_machine.html http://boost-extension.redshoelace.com/docs/boost/fsm/doc/reference.html The current submission is available from the sandbox vault at http://tinyurl.com/yjozfn (or http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=FSM.zip &directory=&PHPSESSID=48493076c1ea60ae316f7b60f15b9ed1, if you prefer.) ----------- Description ----------- "The main goals of the library are: * Simplicity. It should be very simple to create state machine using this library. * Performance. The state machine infrastructure should not be very time and memory-consuming in order to be applicable in more use cases. * Extensibility. A developer may want to add more states to the existing state machine, and this addition should be relatively safe since it shouldn't interfere with the existing states. The developer should also be able to specify additional transitions and events for the machine with minimum modifications to the existing code." "Boost.FSM vs. Boost.Statechart There is another library in Boost that provides similar functionality: Boost.Statechart. Although it currently covers almost all major Boost.FSM features and provides ones that are not supported in this library, Boost.Statechart is more targeted to creation of big and complex state machines with possibility of distributed development. But this does not come at no price and Statechart has little tools for compile-time programming and does not provide as much run-time performance as Boost.FSM does. So there are main guidelines for users to make a decision between Boost.FSM and Boost.Statechart: [...]" "The following compilers are known to have problems or most likely will have ones: * Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 and 7.0. Most probably will fail to compile due to lack of partial template specialization support. * Borland C++ Builder 5.5.1 (free version). Fails to compile due to lack of partial template specialization and in-class using declarations support. Some other minor problems also have been noticed. Newer versions of the compiler have not been tested. * OpenWatcom 1.5. Fails to compile due to problems with Boost.MPL code. Newer versions of the compiler have not been tested. * SunPro C++ Compiler 5.5 for Solaris (SPARC). Most likely will show problems with function overload resolution. Newer versions of the compiler have not been tested." The current submission is available from the sandbox vault at http://tinyurl.com/yjozfn (or http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=FSM.zip &directory=&PHPSESSID=48493076c1ea60ae316f7b60f15b9ed1, if you prefer.) ---------------------------------- What to include in Review Comments ---------------------------------- Your comments may be brief or lengthy, but basically the Review Manager needs your evaluation of the library. If you identify problems along the way, please note if they are minor, serious, or showstoppers. Here are some questions you might want to answer in your review: What is your evaluation of the design? What is your evaluation of the implementation? What is your evaluation of the documentation? What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library? Did you try to use the library? With what compiler? Did you have any problems? How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick reading? In-depth study? Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain? And, finally, every review should answer this question: Do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost library? Be sure to say this explicitly so that your other comments don't obscure your overall opinion. Thanks in advance for your participation in this review. MV

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[fsm] Accessing a state instance in a state machine?
by Boris 23 Aug '08

23 Aug '08

I had a quick look at the documentation of the Boost FSM library as I need to implement a simple protocol handler for a network application. The protocol handler sends and receives text messages and switches between various states. What I wonder is how I can pass for example a reference to a socket to a state so that the state can send a text message? There doesn't seem to be a way to acccess a state instance in a state machine? Boris

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