[pkg-boost-devel] Bug#458743: boost: Please fix thread safety bug

[Phil Endecott]

Package: boost
Version: 1.34.1-4
Severity: normal


Hi,

Apparently, Boost.Function is not thread safe in 1.34.*.  Boost.Thread uses 
Boost.Function, and so Boost.Thread is itself not thread-safe.  Since a 
non-thread-safe threads library is about as useful as the proverbial chocloate teapot, 
it would be great to fix this.

I understand that it will be fixed in 1.35, which may appear soon.  On the other hand, 
we have already been waiting a loooong time for 1.35 to come out and I'm not holding 
my breath.  The recommended fix [see the news item on the boost.org web page] is to 
use the current Boost.Function from trunk and to re-compile the libraries that depend 
on it (i.e. Boost.Thread).

I don't expect to see many people demanding this fix, since the nature of 
thread-safety problems is that they manifest themselves rarely and are hard to 
reproduce and debug.  However, this is a real bug, and a fix does exist.  I'm 
surprised that Boost have not decided to release a 1.34.2 incorporating the fix, but 
that doesn't need to stop Debian from fixing it.

Regard,  Phil.

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