From: Jonathan Turkanis (technews_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-13 00:32:26
Jeff Garland wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:00:36 -0700, Jonathan Turkanis wrote
>> Perhaps after I restore some of the VC6 workarounds and get the core
>> of the library working, you can help me add support for the
>> adapters. Thanks for offering to help!
>
> I really think we should stop wasting time on VC6 -- in particular,
> for new libraries. I'd rather see both of you spend time extending
> your libraries, writing new novel ones, or mentoring new library
> authors. I can't even begin to measure the amount of time I've spent
> on support for VC6 over the last 4 years -- I'm pretty certain more
> than all other compilers combined -- and I don't think I'm alone. If
> we stop supporting maybe it will coax the slow adopters into some
> upgrades as developers complain that they can't use the latest and
> greatest boost libraries without vc7.x. Anyway, I think it's time to
> just say no to VC6 support.
I'm very sympathetic to this point of view. When I stopped trying to support VC6
it felt like a great weight had been lifted off my back ;-) For some of my
recent work, supporting VC6 is not even a remote possibility. In fact, in some
ways VC7.1 has started to play the role that VC6 used to play: the old, broken
compiler that ICEs at the slightest provocation.
But I also want Iostreams to be as useful as possible, and I know there are
still a lot of people stuck using VC6. So it's tempting to try to get the core
of the library working again on that platform.
Jonathan