title: Is it safe to serialize a raw boost::variant?
body: <p><a href="http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_39_0/doc/html/boost/variant.html" rel="noreferrer">boost::variant</a> claims that it is a value type. Does this mean that it's safe to simply write out the raw representation of a boost::variant and load it back later, as long as it only contains POD types? Assume that it will be reloaded by code compiled by the same compiler, and same version of boost, on the same architecture.</p>
  
  <p>Also, (probably) equivalently, can boost::variant be used in shared memory?</p>