From Janek Kozicki: So I think that this should be the goal to pursue if we want to add an extensions/plugin library into boost.
Think of it. With two separate libraries (one for serialization and one for plugins) the user will have to register each class twice. Serialization already registers classes with GUID (Global Unique IDentifier) so plugins/extensions library should take advantage of that.
I'm not convinced. It seems to me that the registration for plugins and for serialization is rather different. Serialization: - When you see this GUID, this is how to create the class. Plugins: - This is another object with an IFoo interface. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean by plugin, but I think of something like Internet Explorer, or Photoshop, where the application has a bunch of IFoo pointers, and it iterates through all of them to extend its menu. When the menu is clicked it calls the appropriate function through the IFoo pointer. I don't really see how the two relate. -- Martin Bonner Martin.Bonner@Pitechnology.com Pi Technology, Milton Hall, Ely Road, Milton, Cambridge, CB24 6WZ, ENGLAND Tel: +44 (0)1223 203894