Subject: Re: [boost] C++03 / C++11 compatibility question for compiled libraries
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2018-02-19 23:54:45
mike wrote:
> Sorry for my poor English,
>
> Apparently, people understood the exact opposite of what I wanted to say.
FWIW, and IMO, your post was very good in laying out what dropping support
for C++03 would mean.
I'd only take exception to "a library can start using C++11 without warning
and this is not considered a breaking change". That's like saying "1+1 is
not considered 2". It's not a matter of consideration; if a change breaks
code, it's a breaking change, regardless of whether one considers it to be
such.
It's generally up to the maintainer to decide how to proceed with breaking
changes, whether caused by switching to C++11 or otherwise changing things
in an incompatible way. ("It's generally up to the maintainer" is true for
mostly everything in Boost, including whether to support C++03 or not.)
We don't break code without a good reason not because of administrative
rules and policies that forbid us from doing so; we don't break code without
a good reason because this creates needless problems for our users and
tarnishes our reputation and our brand.