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Review Wizard Status Report for June 2009
by Ronald Garcia 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

============================================== Review Wizard Status Report for June 2009 ============================================== News ==== Futures: Williams variant Accepted; Gaskill variant Rejected Boost 1.38 Released New Libraries: Revised Libraries: Boost.Range Extension Accepted Polynomial Library Rejected Boost 1.39 Released Constrained Value Review - Review Result Pending Older Issues ============ The Time Series Library, accepted in August 2007, has not yet been submitted to SVN. Eric Niebler and John Phillips are working on making the changes suggested during the review. The Floating Point Utilities Library, has not yet been submitted to SVN. It is slated to be integrated with the Boost.Math library. The Switch Library, accepted provisionally in January 2008, has not yet been submitted for mini-review and full acceptance. The Phoenix Library, accepted provisionally in September 2008, has not yet been submitted for mini-review and full acceptance. A rewrite of Phoenix, basing it on the Proto metaprogramming library, has just begun. General Announcements ===================== As always, we need experienced review managers. The review queue has been growing substantially but we have had few volunteers, so manage reviews if possible and if not please make sure to watch the review schedule and participate. Please take a look at the list of libraries in need of managers and check out their descriptions. In general review managers are active boost participants or library contributors. If you can serve as review manager for any of them, email Ron Garcia or John Phillips, "garcia at osl dot iu dot edu" and "phillips at mps dot ohio-state dot edu" respectively. We are also suffering from a lack of reviewers. While we all understand time pressures and the need to complete paying work, the strength of Boost is based on the detailed and informed reviews submitted by you. A recent effort is trying to secure at least five people who promise to submit reviews as a precondition to starting the review period. Consider volunteering for this and even taking the time to create the review as early as possible. No rule says you can only work on a review during the review period. A link to this report will be posted to www.boost.org. If you would like us to make any modifications or additions to this report before we do that, please email Ron or John. If you're a library author and plan on submitting a library for review in the next 3-6 months, send Ron or John a short description of your library and we'll add it to the Libraries Under Construction below. We know that there are many libraries that are near completion, but we have hard time keeping track all of them. Please keep us informed about your progress. Review Queue ============ * Lexer * Shifted Pointer * Logging * Log * Join * Pimpl * Thread Pool * Endian * Meta State Machine * Conversion * Sorting * GIL.IO * AutoBuffer * String Convert -------------------- Lexer ----- :Author: Ben Hanson :Review Manager: Eric Neibler :Download: `Boost Vault <http://boost-consulting.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=bo… >`__ :Description: A programmable lexical analyser generator inspired by 'flex'. Like flex, it is programmed by the use of regular expressions and outputs a state machine as a number of DFAs utilising equivalence classes for compression. Shifted Pointer --------------- :Author: Phil Bouchard :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boost-consulting.com/vault/index.php?&direction=0&order=&directo… >`__ :Description: Smart pointers are in general optimized for a specific resource (memory usage, CPU cycles, user friendliness, ...) depending on what the user need to make the most of. The purpose of this smart pointer is mainly to allocate the reference counter (or owner) and the object itself at the same time so that dynamic memory management is simplified thus accelerated and cheaper on the memory map. Logging ------- :Author: John Torjo :Review Manager: Gennadiy Rozental :Download: http://torjo.com/log2/ :Description: Used properly, logging is a very powerful tool. Besides aiding debugging/testing, it can also show you how your application is used. The Boost Logging Library allows just for that, supporting a lot of scenarios, ranging from very simple (dumping all to one destination), to very complex (multiple logs, some enabled/some not, levels, etc). It features a very simple and flexible interface, efficient filtering of messages, thread-safety, formatters and destinations, easy manipulation of logs, finding the best logger/filter classes based on your application's needs, you can define your own macros and much more! Log --- :Author: Andrey Semashev :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://tinyurl.com/cm9lum>`__ :Description: The library is aimed to help adding logging features to applications. It provides out-of-box support for many widely used capabilities, such as formatting and filtering based on attributes, sending logs to a syslog server or to Windows Event Log, or simply storing logs into files. It also provides basic support for the library initialization from a settings file. The library can also be used for a wider range of tasks and implement gathering and processing statistical information or notifying user about application events. Join ---- :Author: Yigong Liu :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://channel.sourceforge.net/ :Description: Join is an asynchronous, message based C++ concurrency library based on join calculus. It is applicable both to multi-threaded applications and to the orchestration of asynchronous, event-based applications. It follows Comega's design and implementation and builds with Boost facilities. It provides a high level concurrency API with asynchronous methods, synchronous methods, and chords which are "join-patterns" defining the synchronization, asynchrony, and concurrency. Pimpl ----- :Author: Vladimir Batov :Review Manager: Needed :Download: | `Boost Vault <http://www.boost-consulting.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filenam… >`__ | http://www.ddj.com/cpp/205918714 (documentation) :Description: The Pimpl idiom is a simple yet robust technique to minimize coupling via the separation of interface and implementation and then implementation hiding. This library provides a convenient yet flexible and generic deployment technique for the Pimpl idiom. It's seemingly complete and broadly applicable, yet minimal, simple and pleasant to use. Thread Pool ----------- :Author: Oliver Kowalke :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=bo… >`__ :Description: The library provides: - thread creation policies: determines the management of worker threads: - fixed set of threads in pool - create workerthreads on demand (depending on context) - let worker threads ime out after certain idle time - channel policies: manages access to queued tasks: - bounded channel with high and low watermark for queuing tasks - unbounded channel with unlimited number of queued tasks - rendezvous syncron hand-over between producer and consumer threads - queueing policy: determines how tasks will be removed from channel: - FIFO - LIFO - priority queue (attribute assigned to task) - smart insertions and extractions (for instance remove oldest task with certain attribute by newst one) - tasks can be chained and lazy submit of taks is also supported (thanks to Braddocks future library). - returns a task object from the submit function. The task it self can be interrupted if its is cooperative (means it has some interruption points in its code -> ``this_thread::interruption_point()`` ). Endian ------ :Author: Beman Dawes :Review Manager: Needed :Download: http://mysite.verizon.net/beman/endian-0.10.zip :Description: Header boost/integer/endian.hpp provides integer-like byte-holder binary types with explicit control over byte order, value type, size, and alignment. Typedefs provide easy-to-use names for common configurations. These types provide portable byte-holders for integer data, independent of particular computer architectures. Use cases almost always involve I/O, either via files or network connections. Although data portability is the primary motivation, these integer byte- holders may also be used to reduce memory use, file size, or network activity since they provide binary integer sizes not otherwise available. Meta State Machine ------------------ :Author: Christophe Henry :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?direction=0&order=&director… >`__ :Description: Msm is a framework which enables you to build a Finite State Machine in a straightforward, descriptive and easy-to-use manner . It requires minimal effort to generate a working program from an UML state machine diagram. This work was inspired by the state machine described in the book of David Abrahams and Aleksey Gurtovoy "C++ Template Metaprogramming" and adds most of what UML Designers are expecting from an UML State Machine framework: * Entry and Exit Methods * Guard Conditions * Sub state machines (also called composite states in UML) * History * Terminate Pseudo-State * Deferred Events * Orthogonal zones * Explicit entry into sub state machine states * Fork * Entry / Exit pseudo states * Conflicting transitions Conversion ---------- :Author: Vicente Botet :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=co… >`__ :Description: Generic explicit conversion between unrelated types. Boost.Conversion provides: * a generic ``convert_to`` function which can be specialized by the user to make explicit conversion between unrelated types. * a generic ``assign_to`` function which can be specialized by the user to make explicit assignation between unrelated types. * conversion between ``std::complex`` of explicitly convertible types. * conversion between ``std::pair`` of explicitly convertible types. * conversion between ``boost::optional`` of explicitly convertible types. * conversion between ``boost::rational`` of explicitly convertible types. * conversion between ``boost::interval`` of explicitly convertible types. * conversion between ``boost::chrono::time_point`` and ``boost::ptime``. * conversion between ``boost::chrono::duration`` and ``boost::time_duration``. Sorting ------- :Author: Steven Ross :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=al… >`__ :Description: A grouping of 3 templated hybrid radix/comparison-based sorting algorithms that provide superior worst-case and average-case performance to std::sort: integer_sort, which sorts fixed-size data types that support a rightshift (default of >>) and a comparison (default of <) operator. float_sort, which sorts standard floating-point numbers by safely casting them to integers. string_sort, which sorts variable-length data types, and is optimized for 8-bit character strings. All 3 algorithms have O(n(k/s + s)) runtime where k is the number of bits in the data type and s is a constant, and limited memory overhead (in the kB for realistic inputs). In testing, integer_sort varies from 35% faster to 8X as fast as std::sort, depending on processor, compiler optimizations, and data distribution. float_sort is roughly 7X as fast as std::sort on x86 processors. string_sort is roughly 2X as fast as std::sort. GIL.IO ------ :Author: Christian Henning :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `GIL Google Code Vault <http://gil-contributions.googlecode.com/files/rc2.zip >`__ :Description: I/O extension for ``boost::gil`` which allows reading and writing of/in various image formats ( tiff, jpeg, png, etc ). This review will also include the Toolbox extension which adds some common functionality to gil, such as new color spaces, algorithms, etc. AutoBuffer ---------- :Author: Thorsten Ottosen :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Here <http://www.cs.aau.dk/~nesotto/boost/ auto_buffer.zip>`__ :Description: Boost.AutoBuffer provides a container for efficient dynamic, local buffers. Furthermore, the container may be used as an alternative to std::vector, offering greater flexibility and sometimes better performance. String Convert -------------- :Author: Vladimir Batov :Review Manager: Needed :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=bo… >`__ :Description: The library takes the approach of boost::lexical_cast in the area of string-to-type and type-to-string conversions, builds on the past boost::lexical_cast experience and advances that conversion functionality further to additionally provide: * throwing and non-throwing conversion-failure behavior; * support for the default value to be returned when conversion fails; * two types of the conversion-failure check -- basic and better/safe; * formatting support based on the standard I/O Streams and the standard (or user-defined) I/O Stream-based manipulators (like std::hex, std::scientific, etc.); * locale support; * support for boost::range-compliant char and wchar_t-based string containers; * no DefaultConstructibility requirement for the Target type; * consistent framework to uniformly incorporate any type-to-type conversions. It is an essential tool with applications making extensive use of configuration files or having to process/prepare considerable amounts of data in, say, XML, etc. Libraries under development =========================== Please let us know of any libraries you are currently developing that you intend to submit for review. Mirror ------ :Author: Matus Chochlik :Download: | http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/mirror/doc/index.html | `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=mi… >`__ :Description: The aim of the Mirror library is to provide useful meta-data at both compile-time and run-time about common C++ constructs like namespaces, types, typedef-ined types, classes and their base classes and member attributes, instances, etc. and to provide generic interfaces for their introspection. Mirror is designed with the principle of stratification in mind and tries to be as less intrusive as possible. New or existing classes do not need to be designed to directly support Mirror and no Mirror related code is necessary in the class' definition, as far as some general guidelines are followed Most important features of the Mirror library that are currently implemented include: * Namespace-name inspection. * Inspection of the whole scope in which a namespace is defined * Type-name querying, with the support for typedef-ined typenames and typenames of derived types like pointers, references, cv-qualified types, arrays, functions and template names. Names with or without nested-name-specifiers can be queried. * Inspection of the scope in which a type has been defined * Uniform and generic inspection of class' base classes. One can inspect traits of the base classes for example their types, whether they are inherited virtually or not and the access specifier (private, protected, public). * Uniform and generic inspection of class' member attributes. At compile-time the count of class' attributes and their types, storage class specifiers (static, mutable) and some other traits can be queried. At run-time one can uniformly query the names and/or values (when given an instance of the reflected class) of the member attributes and sequentially execute a custom functor on every attribute of a class. * Traversals of a class' (or generally type's) structure with user defined visitors, which are optionally working on an provided instance of the type or just on it's structure without any run-time data. These visitors are guided by Mirror through the structure of the class and optionally provided with contextual information about the current position in the traversal. I'm hoping to have it review ready in the next few months. Interval Template Library ------------------------- :Author: Joachim Faulhaber :Description: The Interval Template Library (Itl) provides intervals and two kinds of interval containers: Interval_sets and interval_maps. Interval_sets and maps can be used just as sets or maps of elements. Yet they are much more space and time efficient when the elements occur in contiguous chunks: intervals. This is obviously the case in many problem domains, particularly in fields that deal with problems related to date and time. Interval containers allow for intersection with interval_sets to work with segmentation. For instance you might want to intersect an interval container with a grid of months and then iterate over those months. Finally interval_maps provide aggregation on associated values, if added intervals overlap with intervals that are stored in the interval_map. This feature is called aggregate on overlap. It is shown by example: :: typedef set<string> guests; interval_map<time, guests> party; guests mary; mary.insert("Mary"); guests harry; harry.insert("Harry"); party += make_pair(interval<time>::rightopen(20:00, 22:00),mary); party += make_pair(interval<time>::rightopen_(21:00, 23:00),harry); // party now contains [20:00, 21:00)->{"Mary"} [21:00, 22:00)->{"Harry","Mary"} //guest sets aggregated on overlap [22:00, 23:00)->{"Harry"} As can be seen from the example an interval_map has both a decompositional behavior (on the time dimension) as well as a accumulative one (on the associated values). StlConstantTimeSize ------------------- :Author: Vicente J. Botet Escriba :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=consta… >`__ :Description: Boost.StlConstantTimeSize Defines a wrapper to the stl container list giving the user the chioice for the complexity of the size function: linear time, constant time or quasi-constant. In future versions the library could include a similar wrapper to slist. InterThreads ------------------- :Author: Vicente J. Botet Escriba :Download: `Boost Vault <http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=in… >`__ :Description: Boost.InterThreads extends Boost.Threads adding some features: * thread decorator: thread_decorator allows to define setup/cleanup functions which will be called only once by thread: setup before the thread function and cleanup at thread exit. * thread specific shared pointer: this is an extension of the thread_specific_ptr providing access to this thread specific context from other threads. As it is shared the stored pointer is a shared_ptr instead of a raw one. * thread keep alive mechanism: this mechanism allows to detect threads that do not prove that they are alive by calling to the keep_alive_point regularly. When a thread is declared dead a user provided function is called, which by default will abort the program. * thread tuple: defines a thread groupe where the number of threads is know statically and the threads are created at construction time. * set_once: a synchonizer that allows to set a variable only once, notifying to the variable value to whatever is waiting for that. * thread_tuple_once: an extension of the boost::thread_tuple which allows to join the thread finishing the first, using for that the set_once synchronizer. * thread_group_once: an extension of the boost::thread_group which allows to join the thread finishing the first, using for that the set_once synchronizer. (thread_decorator and thread_specific_shared_ptr) are based on the original implementation of threadalert written by Roland Schwarz. Boost.InterThreads extends Boost.Threads adding thread setup/cleanup decorator, thread specific shared pointer, thread keep alive mechanism and thread tuples.

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[shifted_ptr] Status
by Phil Bouchard 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

Greetings: More than a year ago I have submitted a quite stable version of the shifted_ptr memory manager. I am not aware of the level of understanding of it but I am planning writing more documentation, helping introducing it quicker. For now there is a quick presentation which can be found at: http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/shifted_ptr/libs/smart_ptr/doc/Shift… As far as I am concerned, I stepped into astrophysics and I wrote a book called "Finite Relativism" reengineering the whole relativity theory with standard calculus. This is out of topic for this list but I need writing a complex simulator so I will post on "user". Thank you, -Phil

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building a run-time static version
by Lorenzo Bettini 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

Hi I was trying to build a static version of the regex library (boost 1.39), issuing this command: ./bjam --build-dir=build_static --layout=system threading=single runtime-link=static link=static but I always get this error: error: link=shared together with runtime-link=static is not allowed error: such property combination is either impossible error: or too dangerious to be of any use but why is it trying to use link=shared when I explicitly specified link=static? thanks in advance Lorenzo -- Lorenzo Bettini, PhD in Computer Science, DI, Univ. Torino ICQ# lbetto, 16080134 (GNU/Linux User # 158233) HOME: http://www.lorenzobettini.it MUSIC: http://www.purplesucker.com http://www.myspace.com/supertrouperabba BLOGS: http://tronprog.blogspot.com http://longlivemusic.blogspot.com http://www.gnu.org/software/src-highlite http://www.gnu.org/software/gengetopt http://www.gnu.org/software/gengen http://doublecpp.sourceforge.net

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[flat_set/flat_map] request for new constructor that accepts a sorted sequence
by Thorsten Ottosen 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

Hi Ion, It would be veyr nice to have the following constructor: template< class Iter > flat_container( Iter, Iter, bool /*tag*/ ); which allows one to give the container an already sorted sequence (this would be the precondition). -Thorsten

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[spirit][karma] In-place modification of previously parsed content?
by Carlos Rafael Giani 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Hello, I wonder if it is possible to modify previously parsed content using Karma. An example is some text like: coordinate (1, 4.15, 1.49, 0.81) // some comment 1 coordinate (1, -19, 4, -1) // some comment 2 Now suppose the numbers are all parsed, and I change the 0.81 to 71.44. I want to update the text accordingly: coordinate (1, 4.15, 1.49, 71.44) // some comment 2 coordinate (1, -19, 4, -1) // some comment 2 Note how the overall formatting and comments are preserved. The text could contain lots of other strings etc. and they would be all left untouched. This part - the preservation - is the hard one, and I ask, is this possible using Karma?

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[1.40.0] Beta 1 available
by Beman Dawes 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Boost release 1.40.0 beta 1 is available from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/ This release contains no new libraries, but contains numerous bug fixes for existing libraries. Boost source files with types .bz2 and .gz are created with POSIX-style (\n) line endings. Source files with types .7z and .zip are created with Windows-style (\r\n) line endings. The content is otherwise identical. Be sure to download a file with the appropriate line endings for your platform. If you are new to Boost, be sure to read the Getting Started Guide. See www.boost.org There are three known issues with beta 1: * boost/detail/scoped_enum_emulation.hpp, used by Boost.Filesystem, has a name conflict (enum_t) with Unix header rpc/types.h. Fixed in trunk, but not yet merged into the release. * Boost.Python has fixes in trunk not yet merged into to the release. * Boost.Signals has has fixes in trunk not yet merged into to the release. These issues will be resolved for the final 1.40.0 release. Other than these three known issues, please report any problems with the beta on the developers or users mailing lists. Unless unexpected problems arise, the plan is to ship the final 1.40.0 release in a week to ten days. Thanks, --The Boost release team

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FW: [boost.thread] how to delete this thread from within the thread and thread hangs
by Tan, Tom (Shanghai) 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

I debugged through VS2010, it seems that the main thread gets stuck in thread_group::join_all(), while some remaining thread gets stuck in remove_this_thread(). The state of the threads are wait:UserRequest. Does it suggest that a thread cannot be deleted(by operator delete) or removed from the thread_group(by remove_thread()) before the join_all() ? Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: Tan, Tom (Shanghai) Sent: 2009-08-19 10:35 To: 'boost(a)lists.boost.org' Subject: [boost.thread] how to delete this thread from within the thread and thread hangs I am using boost::thread_group to create(using thread_group::create_thread()) and dispatch threads. In order to limit the max thread numbers, at the end of each thread, I remove the thread from the thread_group and delete the thread itself(so that I could decide whether new threads need to be created). However it hangs somewhere between the creation and deletion of the last thread (say the 999th one of 999 in total). My questions are: -1) is it OK to delete the thread from within itself like what I do? if not, what the best way to achieve this -2) why does my code hangs? Below are the related code: //1- code to create and dispatch thread { //mutex for map<thread_id, thread*> operations boost::mutex::scoped_lock lk(m_mutex_for_ptr); // create a thread for this->f(duplicate_hashes) boost::thread* p = m_thread_group.create_thread(boost::bind( &detectiveT<equal_predicate>::f, this, duplicate_hashes )); // save the thread_id -> thread pointer map for later lookup and deletion m_thread_ptrs.insert(make_pair(p->get_id(), p)); // log to console for debug cout << "thread created: " << p->get_id() << ", " << m_thread_group.size() << ", " m_thread_ptrs.size() << "\n"; } //2- code of the thread execution void f(list<map_iterator_type>& l) { Do_something(l); boost::this_thread::at_thread_exit(boost::bind( &detectiveT<equal_predicate>::remove_this_thread, this )); } //3- code to delete the thread itself void remove_this_thread() { { //mutex for map<thread_id, thread*> operations boost::mutex::scoped_lock lk(m_mutex_for_ptr); boost::thread::id this_id(boost::this_thread::get_id()); map<boost::thread::id, boost::thread*>::iterator itr; itr = (m_thread_ptrs.find(this_id)); if(m_thread_ptrs.end() != itr) { // remove it from the control of thread_group m_thread_group.remove_thread(itr->second); // delete it delete itr->second; // remove from the map m_thread_ptrs.erase(this_id); // log to console for debug cout << "thread erased: " << this_id << ", " << m_thread_group.size() << ", " << m_thread_ptrs.size() << "\n"; } } } Thanks.

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[boost.thread] how to delete this thread from within the thread and thread hangs
by Tan, Tom (Shanghai) 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

I am using boost::thread_group to create(using thread_group::create_thread()) and dispatch threads. In order to limit the max thread numbers, at the end of each thread, I remove the thread from the thread_group and delete the thread itself(so that I could decide whether new threads need to be created). However it hangs somewhere between the creation and deletion of the last thread (say the 999th one of 999 in total). My questions are: -1) is it OK to delete the thread from within itself like what I do? if not, what the best way to achieve this -2) why does my code hangs? Below are the related code: //1- code to create and dispatch thread { //mutex for map<thread_id, thread*> operations boost::mutex::scoped_lock lk(m_mutex_for_ptr); // create a thread for this->f(duplicate_hashes) boost::thread* p = m_thread_group.create_thread(boost::bind( &detectiveT<equal_predicate>::f, this, duplicate_hashes )); // save the thread_id -> thread pointer map for later lookup and deletion m_thread_ptrs.insert(make_pair(p->get_id(), p)); // log to console for debug cout << "thread created: " << p->get_id() << ", " << m_thread_group.size() << ", " m_thread_ptrs.size() << "\n"; } //2- code of the thread execution void f(list<map_iterator_type>& l) { Do_something(l); boost::this_thread::at_thread_exit(boost::bind( &detectiveT<equal_predicate>::remove_this_thread, this )); } //3- code to delete the thread itself void remove_this_thread() { { //mutex for map<thread_id, thread*> operations boost::mutex::scoped_lock lk(m_mutex_for_ptr); boost::thread::id this_id(boost::this_thread::get_id()); map<boost::thread::id, boost::thread*>::iterator itr; itr = (m_thread_ptrs.find(this_id)); if(m_thread_ptrs.end() != itr) { // remove it from the control of thread_group m_thread_group.remove_thread(me); // delete it delete itr->second; // remove from the map m_thread_ptrs.erase(this_id); // log to console for debug cout << "thread erased: " << this_id << ", " << m_thread_group.size() << ", " << m_thread_ptrs.size() << "\n"; } } } Thanks.

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Introduction
by Jeff 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

Hey everyone. I'm Jeff Gosling and been deving in C++ for 8+ years now and I'm looking to get involved in an open source community I am very interested in getting involved in Boost development. I've subscribed to the developer mailing list and have browsed through the community webpage. I've also read up on all the existing boost modules/projects. Obviously I have a bit more reading to do to get to grips with Boost. What I was wondering is how specifically can I help? Where is a good place for someone new to Boost to start? Is there a task list that I can look to for something new to do? Thanks, Jeff

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[1.40.0] Beta 1 release candidate available
by Beman Dawes 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

1.40.0 beta 1 release candidates are available at http://boost.cowic.de/rc/ Before pushing the beta out to SourceForge, I'd appreciate it if several people would try the release candidate and report success or problems. Thanks, --Beman

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boost build output locations
by Zachary Turner 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

I notice there's some strange asymmetries in the locations that the standard boost build process outputs binaries to. Is there a reason for this? For example, running bjam variant=debug,release address-model=32 I get the following directory structure: bin.v2 --libs ----date_time\build\msvc-9.0 ------debug --------address-model-32 ---------- boost_date_time-vc90-gd-1_39.dll ---------- boost_date_time-vc90-gd-1_39.lib ----------link-static ------------threading-multi -------------- libboost_date_time-vc90-mt-gd-1_39 Alright there is one asymmetry evident. The dll version of the binaries are in address-model-32, and the static library version of the binaries are in address-model-32/link-static/threading-multi. Should there be like a link-dynamic and a link-static? It makes it much easier to automate linking and building if everything is symmetric, because in some compilers (e.g. visual studio) you don't have as much control as you do with a makefile. So then we take a look at boost::thread bin.v2 --libs ----date_time\build\msvc-9.0 ------debug --------address-model-32 ----------link-static ------------threading-multi -------------- libboost_thread-vc90-mt-gd-1_39.lib ----------threading-multi ------------ boost_thread-vc90-mt-gd-1_39.lib ------------ boost_thread-vc90-mt-gd-1_39.dll This time, the dll versions appeared under address-model-32/threading-multi instead of just address-model-32 like in date_time. Am I going crazy and I have a messed up system, or is this just the way it is? Is it easy to change, or would it be undesirable to change for some reason? Zach

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[move][container] Fast-track reviews for Move and Container?
by Ion Gaztañaga 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

Hi, As some others have mentioned, I'd like to ask if Boost.Move and Boost.Container could meet the requirements for a Fast Track review (the Review Wizard has the last word according to the Boost Formal Process, but I'll like to see if there is consensus). Arguments: Boost.Move -> Only one header (move.hpp) -> Technique already in use in Boost (in several detail namespaces). This is a proposal for a common implementation. -> Boost-conformant implementation available in sandbox. Boost.Container -> Most of them standard containers -> Node containers are just wrappers over Boost.Intrusive -> Most containers (all except stable_vector) were already reviewed for Boost.Interprocess. -> Boost-conformant implementation available in sandbox. I'll be specially interested in pushing Move first, so that we could have move semantics for Boost 1.41. Best, Ion

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Re: [boost] [1.40.0] Unmerged changes delaying beta 1
by Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

> I'd prefer these changes go in 1.40.0 if possible. Since they have > been stable on trunk, and we are waiting a few more days anyhow for > beta feedback, I don't see a lot of risk. So please merge, and then > watch the release tests to make sure nothing breaks. All {boost,libs}/python changes are now merged into the release branch. Thanks to Steven Watanabe and Henrik Sundberg for pointing out the http vs. https problem. Ralf

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Re: [boost] [1.40.0] need svn merge advice (was: Unmerged changes delaying beta 1)
by Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

Beman gave me the advice below. When trying to svn merge libs/python I'm running into this error: svn: Access scheme mixtures not yet supported ('http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/python/test/enable_shared_from_th…' and 'https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/libs/python/test') svn: Error reading spooled REPORT request response The full output is below. Fedora release 11 (Leonidas) % svn --version svn, version 1.6.4 (r38063) compiled Aug 7 2009, 03:42:39 The working copy was checked out fresh with this client. The merge command is OK for boost/python. Adding --force doesn't help for libs/python. Last night I locally tested after simply copying the boost/python and libs/python directories into a working copy of the release branch. That works fine, but there will be no merge info if I commit from the manually modified working copy. IIUC that will be a problem for future merges. What's the best way forward? What if I commit from the release working copy with the manual copies from the trunk, then manually edit svn:mergeinfo to tell it I have everything from trunk up to this point? -- Secondary question: should I do this at the top level (branches/release) or in the subdirectories (branches/release/boost/python, branches/release/libs/python)? Any advice is appreciated; I'm quite afraid of doing something bad to the merge info. (The svn documentation explicitly tells me not to merge in subdirectories in order to avoid pitfalls...) Ralf ----- Original Message ---- From: Beman Dawes <bdawes(a)acm.org> To: Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve <rwgk(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 9:12:37 AM Subject: Re: [boost] [1.40.0] Unmerged changes delaying beta 1 I'd prefer these changes go in 1.40.0 if possible. Since they have been stable on trunk, and we are waiting a few more days anyhow for beta feedback, I don't see a lot of risk. So please merge, and then watch the release tests to make sure nothing breaks. > (I don't have any experience working with the release branch...) The merge process is pretty simple. Assume you have a working copy of branches release at \boost\release: svn merge http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/boost/python \ http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/boost/python \ \boost\release\boost\python svn merge http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/libs/python \ http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/python \ \boost\release\libs\python % svn merge --force http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/libs/python http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/python /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python --- Merging differences between repository URLs into '/net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python': U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/andreas_beyer.cpp U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/stl_iterator.py U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/exec.cpp U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/slice.cpp U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/object.cpp U /net/firtree/raid1/rwgk/boost_release_merge_attempt/boost/libs/python/test/enum.py svn: Access scheme mixtures not yet supported ('http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/python/test/enable_shared_from_th…' and 'https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/libs/python/test') svn: Error reading spooled REPORT request response

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[C++0x] Report from Frankfurt committee meeting
by Beman Dawes 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

The C++ standards committee met in Frankfurt, Germany, last week. Key actions: * Concepts have been removed from C++0x. The committee is very much in favor of Concepts. But Concepts are seen as so important that they have to be right. And the strong consensus was that getting Concepts right, for any reasonable definition of "right", would add several years to the schedule. There was also a consensus that an implementation of a compiler that could compile the entire standard library is part of the definition of "right". While ConceptGCC has been a great help, it isn't there as far as validating "right". Personally, I think Clang may end up being the compiler that eventually validates Concepts. * The range-based for loop and some other library features that were dependent on Concepts will be retained by recasting them to no longer depend on Concepts. See a paper in the upcoming post-meeting mailing to see how range-based for loops will work. * A second Committee Draft (CD2) will need go out for public comment in the Spring or Summer 2010, given the amount of change required to remove Concepts. The C++0x final schedule will thus slip about one year. * No committee action was taken as to how Concepts will eventually make it into C++. While there was a bit of discussion about doing a Concepts Technical Report (TR), there was no such proposal made. Committee members seem to lean toward letting the two rival Concept teams go back to work outside of the committee process. The expectation being they will come back to the committee when they are ready to restart the standardization process. Hopefully the lessons learned about Concepts during the committee process will be taken advantage of, so future standardization of Concepts will be smoother. My personal opinion is that removing Concepts will speed the arrival of conforming C++0x compilers. GCC, for example, has already implemented much of C++0x, so their key developers are no longer faced with the difficult task of turning ConceptGCC into a production compiler, and can concentrate on remaining major features like lambdas. Although Concepts would have added a lot to C++ and Boost, Concepts would also have presented major migration challenges. I'm thinking that for most Boost libraries, migration to C++0x will now be easier and less disruptive. We need to focus on the bright side. --Beman

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boost.lockfree review request
by Tim Blechmann 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

hi all, i would like to submit a small library of lock-free data structures for review. boost.lockfree provides implementations of lock-free data structures. lock-free data structures can be accessed by multiple threads without the necessity of blocking synchronization primitives such as guards. lock-free data structures can be used in real-time systems, where blocking algorithms may lead to high worst-case execution times, to avoid priority inversion, or to increase the scalability for multi-processor machines. boost.lockfree provides: * boost::lockfree::fifo, a lock-free fifo queue * boost::lockfree::stack, a lock-free stack the code is available from the boost vault: http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=boost_… and from my personal git repository: git://tim.klingt.org/boost_lockfree.git http://tim.klingt.org/git?p=boost_lockfree.git the documentation is available at: http://tim.klingt.org/boost_lockfree/ thanks in advance, tim -- tim(a)klingt.org http://tim.klingt.org You don't have to call it music if the term shocks you. John Cage

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[1.40.0] Unmerged changes delaying beta 1
by Beman Dawes 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

There seem to be a large number of changes to trunk that have not been merged into branches/release. Perhaps a lot of merges were forgotten after the bug fixing sprint. All of the libraries listed below are suspect, although some may just be holding changes until after the release. "svn diff" can be used to see exactly what changes have not been merged. Here is a simple Windows batch file that eases typing; perhaps someone could post a Unix equivalent. @echo off if not %1$==$ goto usage_ok echo Usage: unmerged library-name goto done :usage_ok svn diff %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/boost/%1.hpp http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/boost/%1.hpp svn diff %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/boost/%1 http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/boost/%1 svn diff %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/branches/release/libs/%1 http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk/libs/%1 :done If your library has changes that need to be merged, please do so right away. I'll hold off on the beta until Monday morning to give folks a chance to do merges and let tests cycle. --Beman accumulators algorithm any array asio assign bimap bind circular_buffer compatibility concept concept_check config conversion crc date_time detail disjoint_sets dynamic_bitset exception flyweight foreach format function function_types functional fusion gil graph integer io iostreams iterator lambda math mpi mpl multi_array multi_index numeric optional parameter pool preprocessor program_options property_map proto ptr_container python random range rational regex scope_exit serialization signals smart_ptr spirit statechart static_assert system thread timer tokenizer tr tuple type_traits typeof units unordered utility variant wave xpressive

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[bgl] Transitive closure
by Gustavo Gutiérrez 14 Aug '09

14 Aug '09

Hello, I am trying to compute the transitive closure of a graph. The definition of the graph is: typedef boost::adjacency_list<boost::vecS, boost::listS, boost::bidirectionalS, boost::property<boost::vertex_name_t, int> > graph_t; The code that calls the transitive closure function is: (g is of type graph_t) // prepare a map Vertex-int. map<Vertex,int> extmap; VertexIt vi, v_end; int i = 0; for (tie(vi,v_end) = vertices(g); vi != v_end; ++vi, i++) { extmap.insert(pair<Vertex,int>(*vi,i)); } associative_property_map<map<Vertex,int> > tempMap(extmap); map<Vertex,Vertex> vmap; adjacency_list<> c; boost::transitive_closure(g, c, vmap, tempMap); According with the documentation, tempMap must be a map from vertices to integers. When I try to compile the program, the following error occurs: /usr/local/include/boost/graph/transitive_closure.hpp:182: error: invalid initialization of reference of type 'const std::vector<long unsigned int, std::allocator<long unsigned int> >&' from expression of type 'std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> >' After taking a look at the file, the vector successors is defined as: std::vector<std::vector<cg_vertex> > successors(...); The error occurs with the following call: detail::union_successor_sets(successors[u], successors[v], successors[u]); the definition of union_successor_sets is: inline void union_successor_sets(const std::vector < std::size_t > &s1, const std::vector < std::size_t > &s2, std::vector < std::size_t > &s3) {...} Probably I am really wrong, but successors[u] is an std::vector<cg_vertex> and the function expects a std::vector < std::size_t >. So size_t and cg_vertex should be the same type, which according with the error reported by the compiler is not true. Can someone give me a hint on how to solve my problem? Thaks in advance.

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stack-allocated STL-containers
by Stefan Strasser 13 Aug '09

13 Aug '09

I recently ran into the problem that a local container on the stack, which was likely to be very small, but its size was still not known at compile-time, consumed a considerable amount of runtime because of allocation/deallocation. e.g. void do(istream &i){ vector<int> vec; vec.reserve(20); while(...){ int tmp; i >> tmp; vec.push_back(tmp); } } so I wrote an allocator that I think is generally useful and could be added e.g. to Boost.Array: void do(int n){ int buffer[20]; stack_allocator<int,20> alloc(buffer); vector<int,stack_allocator<int,20> > vec(alloc); vec.reserve(alloc.max_stack_size()); while(...){ int tmp; i >> tmp; vec.push_back(tmp); } } the vector operates on the stack as long as there is enough space, and moves to the heap afterwards. in most cases there is no dynamic allocation. here's the source: http://www.boostpro.com/vault/index.php?action=downloadfile&filename=stack_… it uses the simple_seq_fit allocation algorithm described here: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_37_0/doc/html/interprocess/allocators_conta…

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Generic copy-on-write infrastructure in boost?
by Jason Dictos 13 Aug '09

13 Aug '09

Hi, I'm looking for a way to implement a project using some copy-on-write feature, similar to how STL strings use reference counters to prevent needles copying of data. Is there anything in boost to help me out with this? -Jason ---------------------------------- Check out the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall - offering the fastest virus & malware protection in the industry: www.barracudanetworks.com/spam

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[Serialization] Bizarre bug
by Jarl Lindrud 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

There is a rather bizarre bug in Boost.Serialization, that was reported on this list three years ago: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/147010/match=serializat… +bizarre+bug To sum up, a piece of code that is never even executed, is causing a serialization error in a different part of the program. Unfortunately it seems that this bug was never fixed - I just tried it on Boost 1.39.0, and the bug is still there. Any chance something can be done about it? For reference, here is the sample program that reproduces the issue: #include <sstream> #include <string> #include <vector> #include <boost/archive/text_iarchive.hpp> #include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp> #include <boost/serialization/vector.hpp> template<typename Archive> struct X { template<typename T> void operator<<(const T &t) { Archive &archive = (*(Archive *) NULL); archive << t; } }; void dummy() { typedef boost::archive::text_oarchive Archive; X<Archive> &x = * (X<Archive> *) NULL; std::vector<char> *pt = NULL; // uncomment this line to cause the test in main() to fail //x << pt; } int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { std::vector<char> v0(25, '%'); std::vector<char> v1; std::ostringstream ostr; boost::archive::text_oarchive(ostr) & v0; std::istringstream istr(ostr.str()); boost::archive::text_iarchive(istr) & v1; bool ok = (v0 == v1); return 0; }

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[mpl] strange vector_c and integral_c construction
by Maxim Yanchenko 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

Hi all, > Probably this is well-known and I just failed to find it in the docs and mailing list. According to the docs (http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_39_0/libs/mpl/doc/refmanual/integral-sequen…) typedef seq_c<T,c1,c2,... cn> s; Semantics: s is a sequence seq of integral constant wrappers integral_c<T,c1>, integral_c<T,c2>, ... integral_c<T,cn>. Consider the following example: const int64_t max_int = integer_traits<int>::const_max; const int64_t max_int_plus_1 = max_int + 1; BOOST_MPL_ASSERT(( equal< vector_c< int64_t, 1 > , vector< integral_c< int64_t, 1 > > > )); BOOST_MPL_ASSERT(( equal< vector_c< int64_t, max_int > , vector< integral_c< int64_t, max_int > > > )); BOOST_MPL_ASSERT(( equal< vector_c< int64_t, max_int_plus_1 > , vector< integral_c< int64_t, max_int_plus_1 > > > )); The first assert passes, while the second and third fail with the following error messages (removed repetition of 2147483647l for readability): test.h:149: error: ************mpl::equal<mpl::vector_c<int64_t, 2147483647l, 2147483647l, ...>, mpl::vector<mpl_::integral_c<int64_t, 2147483647>>, is_same<true> >::************' test.h:153: error: ************mpl::equal<mpl::vector_c<int64_t, -0x00000000080000000l, 2147483647l, ...>, mpl::vector<mpl_::integral_c<int64_t, 2147483648ll>>, is_same<true> >::************' I consider these errors as a contradiction to the docs statement. Probably, I configured MPL wrong, as I see in the preprocessed code, where long is used (boost/mpl/aux_/preprocessed/gcc/vector_c.hpp) template< typename T, long C0 = LONG_MAX, long C1 = LONG_MAX, long C2 = LONG_MAX , long C3 = LONG_MAX, long C4 = LONG_MAX, long C5 = LONG_MAX , long C6 = LONG_MAX, long C7 = LONG_MAX, long C8 = LONG_MAX , long C9 = LONG_MAX, long C10 = LONG_MAX, long C11 = LONG_MAX , long C12 = LONG_MAX, long C13 = LONG_MAX, long C14 = LONG_MAX , long C15 = LONG_MAX, long C16 = LONG_MAX, long C17 = LONG_MAX , long C18 = LONG_MAX, long C19 = LONG_MAX > struct vector_c; I'm using GCC 3.4.6, on Linux-64, compiling 32-bit binary (so int and long are of same size, and boost::int64_t is bigger than long). Thanks, Maxim (to reply in private, please use FirstName.LastName at gmail.com)

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Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-03: Vulnerabilities in Visual Studio Active Template Library Could Allow Remote Code Execution (969706)
by Christian Eckstein 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

Hi, I need to know the impact of the following security bulletin on Boost: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-03: Vulnerabilities in Visual Studio Active Template Library Could Allow Remote Code Execution (969706). I found usage of ATL only in the range and regex libraries and it seems that only string and array classes are used. None of the problematic methods seem to be used that are described in the checklist at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualc/ee309358.aspx. - No class implements IUnknown so there is no ActiveX control. - No PROP_* macros are used - VT_* is not used - ReadFromStream is not used I think no modification of Boost and no recompilation of the Boost binaries is needed. I would be very happy if somebody could confirm this. Kind regards, Christian

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persistence library proposal (with prototype implementation)
by Stefan Strasser 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

Is there any interest to include a persistence library in boost, built upon the boost serialization library? the basic idea is: transaction tx; change_objects(); tx.commit(); all changes made by change_objects() should be undone if tx is destroyed without calling commit(), e.g. because of an exception thrown by change_objects(). the library should provide ACID transaction properties, so that multiple transactions (in different threads) can work on the same objects and conflicts are discovered by the library. further, an application crash should be recovered, with the changes made by a transaction either committed as a whole or undone. to partition your object model into many different objects, which can be saved to disk and loaded back on demand, there is a new smart pointer introduced, which behaves like smart_ptr and is convertible to smart_ptr. objects that are handled by this smart pointer and are no longer used in memory are not destroyed but saved to disk. only objects which are no longer in use either in memory or on disk are destroyed. the only requirement on persistent objects would be to model the concept "Serializable" as defined by boost serialization. e.g. a linked list, whose elements are loaded from disk on demand could look like: struct node{ db_ptr<node> next; private: //Serializable requirements }; void traverse(){ while(current) current=current->next; //operator-> loads the next node } prototype implementation --- i've attached a test case using the current implementation. it demonstrates multiple concurrent transactions.running isolated from each other. it models a bank, with multiple threads constantly withdrawing from one (random) bank account and depositing the amount on another. when two threads are using the same bank account at the same time, resulting in money being lost, an isolation_exception is thrown in one of the threads and the transaction can be restarted. there is no manual thread synchronization involved. the current implementation uses an optimistic multiversion approach, meaning that each transaction running concurrently is working on its own copy of an object. when the transaction is committed conflicts are discovered and an isolation_exception is thrown. several things like reference counting on disk and the recovery process after a crash aren't implemented yet, but the basics are in place and should give you an idea of what kind of a library I'm proposing.

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different matrix library?
by DE 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

hi i'm new to boost so please don't blame me the question is do you need a matrix library which allows you to write clear, human readable code like dV = (1/m)*force + transpose(A)*g - cross_product(omega, V) //here dV is a derivative of velocity, m is (scalar) mass //A is transition matrix and //g is gravity acceleration vector //omega is angular velocity and V is velocity vector itself //force is defined in body space (e.g. aerodynamics and thrust) that is an expression of newton's 2nd law (or if you like 'change in momentum' law: d(m*V)/dt = d_local(m*V)/dt + (omega)x(m*V) = sum_of(forces) as you can see so far i'm a math nerd) of course it must be implemented through lazy evaluation technique (which immediately implies expression templates) ps i looked at uBLAS and the design seemed obsolete to me so i thought there could be a better approach then blindly following blas design pps thanks for reading til here and forgive for (possibly) wasting your time

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