Boost.serialization support

Starting from version 0.22, all of mp++’s multiprecision classes support (de)serialisation via the Boost.serialization library, provided that mp++ was compiled with the MPPP_WITH_BOOST_S11N option enabled (see the installation instructions). We refer to the documentation of Boost.serialization (particularly the tutorial) for usage examples. Note that, as detailed in the previous sections, certain classes (such as integer and real) also provide a separate, low-level binary serialisation API which does not depend on Boost.serialization.

There is an important caveat to keep in mind when using mp++’s Boost.serialization support. The serialisation to/from binary archives is optimised for speed, and no checks are performed on the validity of the data that is loaded from a binary archive. In other words, a maliciously-crafted binary archive could lead to the creation of an invalid mp++ object whose use could then lead to undefined and/or erratic runtime behaviour. Users are thus advised not to load data from untrusted binary archives. Non-binary archives do not suffer from these issues.