This package forms part of the boost c++ libraries collection, containing the following functionalities:

* proper restoration of pointers to shared data
* serialization of stl containers and other commonly used templates
* data portability - streams of bytes created on one platform should
be readable on any other
* archive interface must be rich enough to permit the creation of an
archive that presents serialized data as xml in a useful manner
here, "serialization" means the reversible deconstruction of an arbitrary set of c++ data structures to a sequence of bytes. archive: to refer to a specific rendering of this stream of bytes.