This is a great point. When vtkSMPTools was first introduced, it included a backend based on vtkMultiThreader. It was a “batteries included” sort of backend, since it didn’t add any extra dependencies that might block its use in certain applications. Are C++11 threads mature enough that they could be used to create a similar batteries-included backend? I’m not asking anyone at Kitware to actually do the implementation, I’m just wondering if people think it’s feasible and whether it might be accepted into the VTK codebase.
I know it wouldn’t provide the same performance as TBB or other backends, but it would be close, and there is tremendous value in having something that can be part of the default VTK build. For example, people who grab VTK from PyPi don’t get any SMP at all (except for the vtkMultiThreader stuff in the imaging pipeline). There are huge parts of the VTK community who aren’t getting any benefit from the current SMP back ends. And I say this as a member of the community, who contributes to VTK for the benefit of the community.