[Bf-committers] Boost dependency

[Sergey Sharybin]

Boost is only 50Mb, and it consists of lots of smaller libraries (like 28
libs) and we're only using few of them (like 3 or 4). This libs are getting
stripped further when linking blender. We're also using some header-based
classes from boost, but that's not so much i guess.

Not sure why portability would be an issue -- boost is used by lots of
other applications and it's nicely supported on all platforms we're
compiling blender for

We're not using so much templates from boost atm. There are much more
templates in eigen library. And much more templates in libmv/ceres. But
that's not issue there -- without templates here the could would have been
completely unmanageable. Be my guest to make it templateless with the same
readability.

And i'm still not sure what's the issue here? We're already using boost in
quite a lot of areas and not sure why don't use it in other areas?

P.S. If you're worried about size let's switch to discussing dependency
from SDL, which we're using as one of possible backends for audio. SDL is
like 150-200Mb of dependencies we're actually using (only helps that it's
possible to link dynamically against SDL and keep it working) -- it
includes SDL itself, ALSA which is used by SDL and so on.


On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 9:30 PM, Ton Roosendaal <ton at blender.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Can I get advice from the c/c++ devs here if Boost is going to be a
> default dependency now?
> It is currently possible to disable Boost by excluding some libs (like for
> mini blender compiles).
>
> I'm concerned about portablity too. And from my limited POV any library
> takes 200 MB diskpace is suspicious!
>
> Next to that - we do serious attempts to keep code readable in Blender.
> Heavy use of templates can lead to constructions nobody will ever be able
> to debug. It's a common issue with C code too - but in C++ hacking even
> more. In other developer environments people agree together on sticking to
> only a limited subset of all C++ features for that reason.
>
> (Our audio library now uses Boost, that's the reason)
>
> Laters,
>
> -Ton-
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation   ton at blender.org    www.blender.org
> Blender Institute   Entrepotdok 57A  1018AD Amsterdam   The Netherlands
>
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-- 
With best regards, Sergey Sharybin