When switching to C++11, Is it necessary to recompile all dependency libraries that use STL in interface?
c++, c++11, stl
Solution
You don't specify your platform or compiler/libraries.
There are some interesting notes here (although a bit out of date) about ABI compatibility for GNU `libStdc++` - there is some insulation from ABI compatibility at the expense of true compliance. It rather looks as if it's all or nothing here if you use `std::pair`.
`libc++` (which is `clang`'s standard library) takes another approach and intentionally inserts an extra namespace (I believe called `__1`) to all of its exported symbols, which means it's possible to link both `libstdc++` and `libc++` in the same executable. Providing you're not passing STL objects across the boundaries between your old and new libraries, you may well be able to get this to work.
Problem
I'm attempting to switch a large project to using C++11. I ran into large number of linker errors which seem caused by the mismatched namespace on STL classes between library compiled with C++11 and those compiled with C++03. As an example, say library B is a dependency of A. B has following templated class as part of its interface. ``` template <class Type> class VectorParameter { public: VectorParameter(); virtual ~VectorParameter(); ... } ``` Library A instantiates the template with `VectorParameter<std::pair<float, float>>`. When I recompiled A with C++11 without recompiling B, I ran into linker error that complains that `LFE::VectorParameter<std::__1::pair<float, float>>::~VectorParameter() is undefined symbol.` I think the issue here is that library A uses `std::__1::pair` while B still uses `std::pair`. Following this reasoning, I assume that I will need to recompile all dependency libraries that refers STL types in their interfaces. If this is the case, then migrating a large project to C++11 will require all involved groups to switch at the same time, which doesn't seem very practical on a complex project. What would be the best practice for dealing this issue?