Using stringstream to input/output a bool value

You should always verify if your input was successful: you'll find it was not. You want to try the value 1 with your current setup:

if (lineStream >> active) {
    std::cout << active << '\n';
}
else {
    std::cout << "failed to read a Boolean value.\n";
}

If you want to be able to enter true and false, you'll need to use std::boolalpha:

if (lineStream >> std::boolalpha >> active) {
    std::cout << std::boolalpha << active << '\n';
}

The formatting flag changes the way bool is formatted to use locale-dependent strings.

Try using the boolalpha manipulator.

lineStream >> boolalpha >> active;
cout << boolalpha << active << endl;

By default, streams input and output bool values as tiny numbers. boolalpha tells the stream to instead use the strings "true" and "false" to represent them.