Boost 1.38 in Jaunty

[Bernhard Reiter]

Boost accelerated their release cycle about a year ago. Since then, there has been a considerable lag between boost releases and their inclusion in Ubuntu. The latest Boost, 1.38, was released on Feb 8. I think it would be a really good idea to have an up-to-date version of Boost in Ubuntu, and I think getting 1.38 into Jaunty would be a first step.

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage . I have classified this bug as a bug in boost.
For future reference you might be interested to know that a lot of applications have bug reporting functionality built in to them. This can be accessed via the Report a Problem option in the Help menu for the application with which you are having an issue. You can learn more about this feature at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Fabio Alessandro Locati (f4l3)]

I think this should be a priority, due to the reasons Bernhard Reiter explained in the bug report

[Bernhard Reiter (ockham-razor)]

Seems like boost 1.38 is already in debian's NEW queue: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-boost-devel/2009-February/001794.html -- hope that means it'll make it into Jaunty!!!

The reason I didn't originally file this as a bug in the boost package is that currently each boost version has its own versioned package (and even source package name). The "boost" source package is actually 1.34.1; but there are also boost1.35, boost1.36 and boost1.37 source packages. It might be desirable to change this scheme to only have one version again and I think there have been discussions on this subject on debian's boost list, but I'm afraid I can't be of much help on this. Anyway, more current details are at http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-boost-devel/2009-February/001773.html

[Anderson Lizardo (lizardo)]

Additionally to having the boost1.38 package in jaunty, I'd like to propose adding these two patches to the release, as it fixes important bugs/limitations IMHO:

* https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/2744 (fixes support for C++ code that uses enums with the same value, e.g. "enum { Alpha = 1, Beta = 1}", sounds strange, but some C++ headers use it).

* https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/47846 (adds support for calling methods with both variable arguments and keywords). According to the author of the commit (stefan), it was supposed to be included in the 1.38.0 release, but somehow it was forgot to be applied to the release branch.

Both patches are fairly small and come with testsuite updates, therefore the impact of them should be minimal.

[Anderson Lizardo (lizardo)]

Just a clarification: both patches whose URL I posted on my previous comment are related to Boost.Python specifically (which is the Boost component I'm most interested in).

[Bernhard Reiter (ockham-razor)]

@motu-release: Freeze exception, please? (For rationale, see my initial comment. A source package can be found in debian new)

[StefanPotyra (sistpoty)]

hm... due to the rdepends and build-rdepends upgrading the boost package as present in jaunty right now seems out of scope.
In regards to adding this as alternate source package (as I understand that you request), I must admit that I'm not too comfortable with doing that late in the cycle. I'd personally prefer to add it to karmic and then have it backported to jaunty.

[StefanPotyra (sistpoty)]

(setting back to new -- confirmed would mean freeze exception granted)

[Luca Falavigna (dktrkranz)]

I'm inclined to have this for Karmic, it's really -ENOTIME right now.

[Anderson Lizardo (lizardo)]

FYI, boost1.38 was uploaded to Debian sid on Apr 3rd:

http://packages.qa.debian.org/b/boost1.38.html

Therefore, I suppose adding it to Ubuntu karmic will just need a sync request?
What about intrepid ? Is it possible to have it through the backport process?
What is needed to make this a reality?

[Anderson Lizardo (lizardo)]

Of course, I meant "jaunty" instead of intrepid on my previous comment.

[Scott Kitterman (kitterman)]

This needs to wait to karmic (where it will come in automatically). Once it's in karnic a backport can be requested.

[Michael Aaron Safyan (michaelsafyan)]

Hi. I'd be interested in keeping up with the BOOST releases (latest version is 1.39 at this moment) and ensuring that there is an apt-get repository with the latest release. Unfortunately, I'm very new to the debian packaging process (not to mention that it is somewhat more complicated with boost in particular, since boost seems to be divided among quite a number of apt packages in Ubuntu -- one per library, plus headers, plus documentation) and am not really sure how to go about packaging. So, if any of you would be interested in showing me the ropes just once with BOOST 1.39, I can repeat the process as later versions are released.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

- Michael Safyan

[Russel Winder (russel)]

I wonder if a way forward here is for there to be a Boost Development team created and a Boost project created. Then there can be a PPA for Boost that can have the latest and greatest version available as soon as it is ready.

I suspect the easiest way of handling the packaging would be to grab the packaging structures used to create the versions already in Debian and then amend them to suit the changes that have happened since.

[Michael Aaron Safyan (michaelsafyan)]

Ok. I've created the team (https://launchpad.net/~boost-latest). I've also downloaded the .dsc, .orig.tar.gz, and .diff.gz files from the Debian repository. I'll give them a look over for the next few days and try to see if I can replicate it with Boost 1.39. Wish me luck.

- Michael Safyan

[Michael Aaron Safyan (michaelsafyan)]

Ok. I wasn't able to figure it out. It may be another week before I have the time to take a look at it again.
- Michael Safyan

[8472 (dv-underworld)]

Hi, still nothing about that newer version in the https://launchpad.net/~boost-latest OR PPA site?

8472

[Michael Aaron Safyan (michaelsafyan)]

Sorry. About two months ago I responded to a Launchpad email, stating that I no longer have the time to devote to this. At the time, I thought the conversation was public, but I can see now, looking at this page, that it must have been a private conversation.

[Fabio Alessandro Locati (f4l3)]

1.40 released... maybe for karmic+1 could be cool to have at least 1.40 ;)

[Adam J Richardson (fatman-crackmonkey)]

Agreed. Boost 1.40 *at least* for Loquacious Leprechaun (or whatever), please!

[Fabio Alessandro Locati (f4l3)]

Fixed in karmic.
Probably there will be also 1.40 in Lucid