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- <h1>Boost Formal Review Process</h1>
- <p><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a><br>
- <a href="#Comments">What to include in Review Comments</a><br>
- <a href="#Results">Results</a><br>
- <a href="#Review_Manager">Notes for Review Managers</a><br>
- <a href="#Submitters">Notes for Library Submitters</a><br>
- <a href="#Wizard">Review Wizard</a><br>
- <a href="#Fast-Track">Fast Track Reviews</a></p>
- <h2><a name="Introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
- <p>Proposed libraries are accepted into Boost only after undergoing a
- formal review, where Boost mailing list members comment on their
- evaluation of the library.</p>
- <p>The final "accept" or "reject" decision is made by the <a href=
- "#Review_Manager">Review Manager</a>, based on the review comments
- received from boost mailing list members.</p>
- <p>Boost mailing list members are encouraged to submit Formal Review
- comments:</p>
- <blockquote>
- <ul>
- <li>Publicly on the mailing list.</li>
- <li>Privately to the Review Manager.</li>
- </ul>
- </blockquote>
- <p>Private comments to a library submitter may be helpful to her or him,
- but won't help the Review Manager reach a decision, so the other forms
- are preferred.</p>
- <h2>What to include in Review <a name="Comments">Comments</a></h2>
- <p>Your comments may be brief or lengthy, but basically the Review
- Manager needs your evaluation of the library. If you identify
- problems along the way, please note if they are minor, serious, or
- showstoppers.</p>
- <p>Here are some questions you might want to answer in your review:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>What is your evaluation of the design?<br>
- </li>
- <li>What is your evaluation of the implementation?<br>
- </li>
- <li>What is your evaluation of the documentation?<br>
- </li>
- <li>What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the
- library?<br>
- </li>
- <li>Did you try to use the library? With what compiler? Did
- you have any problems?<br>
- </li>
- <li>How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick
- reading? In-depth study?<br>
- </li>
- <li>Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain?</li>
- </ul>
- <p>And finally, every review should answer this question:<br>
- </p>
- <ul>
- <li>Do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost
- library? Be sure to say this explicitly so that your other
- comments don't obscure your overall opinion.</li>
- </ul>
- <h2><a name="Results">Results</a></h2>
- <p>At the conclusion of the comment period, the Review Manager will post
- a message to the mailing list saying if the library has been accepted or
- rejected. A rationale is also helpful, but its extent is up to the
- Review Manager. If there are suggestions, or conditions that must be met
- before final inclusion, they should be stated.</p>
- <h2>Notes for <a name="Review_Manager">Review Manager</a>s</h2>
- <p>Before a library can be scheduled for formal review, an active boost
- member not connected with the library submission must volunteer to be the
- "Review Manager" for the library.</p>
- <p>The Review Manager:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Checks the submission to make sure it really is complete enough to
- warrant formal review. See the <a href="lib_guide.htm">Boost
- Library Requirements and Guidelines</a>. If necessary, work with
- the submitter to verify the code compiles and runs correctly on several
- compilers and platforms.</li>
- <li>Finalizes the schedule with the <a href="#Wizard">Review Wizard</a>
- and the submitter .</li>
- <li>
- Posts a notice of the review schedule on both the regular <b><a href=
- "mailto:boost@lists.boost.org">boost mailing list</a></b> and the
- <b><a href="mailto:boost-announce@lists.boost.org">boost-announce</a>
- mailing list</b>.
- <ul>
- <li>The notice should include a brief description of the library
- and what it does, to let readers know if the library is one they
- are interested in reviewing.</li>
- <li>If the library is known to fail with certain compilers, please
- mention them in the review notice so reviewers with those compilers
- won't waste time diagnosing known problems.</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li>Inspects the Boost <a href="../libs/libraries.htm">library
- catalogue</a> for libraries which may interact with the new submission.
- These potential interactions should be pointed out in the review
- announcement, and the author(s) of these libraries should be privately
- notified and urged to participate in the review.</li>
- <li>Urges people to do reviews if they aren't forthcoming.</li>
- <li>Follows review discussions regarding the library, moderating or
- answering questions as needed.</li>
- <li>Decides if there is consensus to accept the library, and if there
- are any conditions attached.</li>
- <li>Posts a message on both the <b><a href=
- "mailto:boost@lists.boost.org">boost</a></b> and <b><a href=
- "mailto:boost-announce@lists.boost.org">boost-announce</a></b> lists
- informing members of the <a href="#Results">review results</a>.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>In other words, it is the Review Manager's responsibility to make sure
- the review process works smoothly.</p>
- <h2>Notes for Library <a name="Submitters">Submitters</a></h2>
- <p>See <a href="submission_process.htm">Submission Process</a> for a
- description of the steps a library developer goes through to get a
- library accepted by Boost.</p>
- <p>A proposed library should remain stable during the review period; it
- will just confuse and irritate reviewers if there are numerous
- changes. It is, however, useful to upload fixes for serious bugs
- right away, particularly those which prevent reviewers from fully
- evaluating the library. Post a notice of such fixes on the mailing
- list.</p>
- <p>Library improvements suggested by reviewers should normally be held
- until after the completion of review period. If the suggested
- changes might affect reviewer's judgments, post a notice of the
- pending change on the mailing list.</p>
- <h2>Review <a name="Wizard">Wizard</a></h2>
- <p>The Review Wizard coordinates the formal review schedule:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Maintains a list of review manager volunteers, in the form of a
- queue, so that volunteers who least recently managed reviews become the
- prime candidates for upcoming reviews.</li>
- <li>When a formal review is requested for a library:</li>
- <li style="list-style: none">
- <ul>
- <li>Assign a review manager and suggests a schedule, after checking
- (via private email) availability of the volunteers at the top of
- review manager queue.</li>
- <li>Finalize the schedule, once the review manager verifies the
- library is actually ready for review.</li>
- <li>Resolve schedule slips or other issues with review managers and
- submitters.</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li>Maintains a schedule of both past and pending reviews, in the form
- of the <a href="formal_review_schedule.html">Review Schedule</a> web
- page.</li>
- <li>Resolves questions from review managers and library submitters, who
- sometimes want a third opinion on questions such as "Should we extend
- the review period because ...?"</li>
- <li>Monitors the general review process, and makes minor adjustments as
- needed, or queries the list about possible major adjustments.</li>
- </ul>
- The role of Boost Review Wizard is currently played by <a href=
- "mailto:reportbase@yahoo.com">Tom Brinkman</a>.<h2><a name="Fast-Track">Fast Track Reviews</a></h2>
- <p>To qualify for fast track review:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>The component must be small.</li>
- <li>The technique must be already in use in Boost libraries and the new
- component provides a common implementation.</li>
- <li>A full Boost-conformant implementation is available in the sandbox.</li>
- <li>The Review Wizard determines that the proposal qualifies for fast
- track review.</li>
- </ul>
- <p>Procedure:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>The Boost Review Wizard posts a review announcement to the main Boost
- developer's list. The review period will normally last for 5 days. No two
- fast track reviews will run in parallel. Fast track reviews may run during
- full reviews, though generally this is to be avoided.</li>
- <li>After the review period ends, the submitter will post a review summary
- containing proposed changes to the reviewed implementation.</li>
- <li>The Review Wizard will accept or reject the proposed library and
- proposed changes.</li>
- <li>After applying the proposed changes, the component is checked into CVS
- like any other library.<br>
- </li>
- </ul>
- <hr>
- <p>Revised
- <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->15 October, 2003<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38556" --></p>
- <p>© Copyright Beman Dawes 2000</p>
- <p> Use, modification, and distribution are subject to the Boost Software
- License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">
- LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">
- www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</p>
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