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- <h1>Boost Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
- <p><b>How is a library accepted for posting on the site?</b>
- See <a href="submission_process.htm">Library Submission Process</a></p>
- <p><b>Is there any assurance libraries actually work as claimed?</b> No. The review
- process will hopefully eliminate the most seriously flawed libraries, but a well
- constructed library with hidden defects is likely to slip through. Encouraging ordinary
- users to report their experience with a library is intended to address such concerns. </p>
- <p><b>How does someone submit a comment?</b> Send email to <a
- href="mailto:boost@egroups.com">boost@egroups.com</a>. </p>
- <p><strong>How does someone submit a library?</strong> See <a href="lib_guide.htm">Library
- Guidelines</a></p>
- <p><b>Are commercial libraries requiring a fee acceptable?</b> No. However, a library that
- a commercial enterprise makes available without fee is acceptable. If the description of
- the library makes a low-key plug for the supplier, that is acceptable as long as the
- library delivers real value and isn’t just a Trojan horse for the plug.</p>
- <p><b>Are shareware libraries acceptable?</b> No. At least initially, only free libraries
- will be accepted.</p>
- <p><strong>Are open source license libraries acceptable?</strong> Some
- are, many are not.
- Open source licenses often require redistribution or availability of source code,
- inclusion of license document with machine-executable redistribution, give the initial
- developer rights to licensee modifications, or need a lawyer to understand. These
- would be immediate disqualifications for many business, commercial, and consumer
- applications. Boost aims to avoid subjecting users to hard-to-comply-with license
- terms. See <a href="lib_guide.htm##License">License requirements</a>.<br>
- <br>
- This is subject to review for a particularly important piece of software, or as the
- industry changes.</p>
- <p><b>Must full source code be provided?</b> Yes, these are source code libraries.</p>
- <p><b>What about documentation?</b> A very simple library might be accepted with only a
- well commented header file. For more substantial libraries, some form of documentation is
- certainly going to be expected. HTML is the preferred form.</p>
- <p><b>Are platform specific libraries acceptable?</b> There is a preference for portable
- libraries. Libraries will be accepted that have portable interfaces but require platform
- specific implementations, as long as the author supplies implementations for a couple of
- disparate major operating systems.</p>
- <p><b>Must a library do useful work? </b>No. A library meant as a teaching example or
- demonstration might not actually do any work.</p>
- <p><b>Who owns the libraries?</b> Presumably many authors will copyright their libraries.
- Others authors may wish to place their libraries in the public domain. The Boost.org
- policy is to only accept libraries with a clear copyright notice. It is up to
- potential users to decide if they find the copyright terms acceptable, and to not use
- libraries with unacceptable copyrights.</p>
- <p><b>What support is available for the libraries?</b> Try the <a
- href="mailto:boost@egroups.com">boost@egroups.com</a> mailing list. </p>
- <p><b>Is there a formal relationship between Boost.org and the C++ Standards Committee?</b>
- No. The people who started Boost.org were all on the committee, but that was just
- happenstance.</p>
- <p><b>Will the Boost.org libraries become part of the next C++ Standard?</b> Some
- might, someday off in the future, but that is up to the standards committee. To the
- extent a library becomes "existing practice", the likelihood increases that
- someone will propose it for future standardization. Submitting a library to Boost.org is
- one way to establish existing practice - as long as enough people are interested to
- download and use it!</p>
- <p><b>Is the web site a commercial business?</b> No. It is just some people getting together
- as a kind of cyberspace civic association. If it ever needs to incorporate, it would be as
- non-profit organization.</p>
- <p><b>Is there any charge for submitting libraries or reviews to Boost.org?</b> No. Unlike
- the standards committees, you don’t have to pay to volunteer!</p>
- <p><b>Will the site include material beyond libraries?</b> The main focus is on libraries,
- but if people contribute occasional articles or other material to make the site more
- interesting, that could be a nice fit.</p>
- <p><strong>How do I download the libraries?</strong>
- See <a href="../libs/libraries.htm#Download">Download</a> instructions.</p>
- <p><b>Why isn't there a separate boost mailing list for my favorite
- library? </b> One of the reasons for boost's success has been the cross-pollination of ideas between diverse library
- projects and the occasional look into other threads by otherwise uninterested parties. The more people participate, the less they tend to be annoyed by
- "noise".</p>
- <p><b>How can I cope with the large volume of boost mailing list messages?</b>
- One approach is to use the eGroups digest option; that cuts the email blizzard
- down to about three (long) messages per day, so you can glance over the subjects
- summary at the top and quickly read what you think is important. The
- eGroups "no mail/web only" option is best if you just occasionally
- want to look at messages.</p>
- <p>Yet another approach is to use your email program's capabilities to filter messages and automatically
- transfer them into several boost folders. Then only read the folders you
- care about. Boost list posters are
- encouraged to include keywords in the subject like "thread",
- "review", and "CVS" to aid message filtering.</p>
- <hr>
- <p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->06 February, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="40406" -->
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