[Yes, I'm way behind on my reading.] On 9/30/05 1:36 PM, "David Abrahams" <dave@boost-consulting.com> wrote:
"Andy Little" <andy@servocomm.freeserve.co.uk> writes:
"David Abrahams" wrote
[SNIP]
* There are some dependencies among libraries, but they are not tightly coupled.
Then why do you need to download the whole collection?
Because that's the way it is.
* There is a tool (bcp) for extracting the parts you want and their dependencies.
Then why is it not available at the website? You still have to download the complete libraries.
Because that's the way it is. Are these questions relevant to what should go in the What is Boost section, or are you just asking me? [TRUNCATE]
"That's the way it is" is a useless tautological response. Maybe a full explanation would help Andy more. For the first part, the Boost website used to host a separate ZIP file for each library. I guess that became impractical as dependencies among libraries happened, especially for the libraries that are meant to be mainly used as dependencies (e.g. Config or Utility). Preparing the code to be separate takes effort too, especially as libraries have gotten larger. Check out Spirit for a modern example of a semi-separate collection. (Does Spirit use BCP?) For the second part, the source for BCP is available. It's in the same directory as its documentation. I think it's a bug that the docs don't mention that. A finished BCP tool would have to be compiled for each platform, and would probably be in our SourceForge download area for efficiency. Anyway, I think BCP only works on local directories; and Andy is asking for a version that downloads over the network. That wouldn't be practical because our SourceForge downloads aren't that refined (nor made for automation). We would have to create high-bandwidth mirror sites that contain each file, individually, in the Boost archive. (And what about issues pertaining to which versions of library files you want: latest release vs. CVS head vs. CVS branch.) -- Daryle Walker Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie darylew AT hotmail DOT com