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  20. <h1>Boost Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
  21. <p><b>How is a library accepted for posting on the site?</b>
  22. See <a href="submission_process.htm">Library Submission Process</a></p>
  23. <p><b>Is there any assurance libraries actually work as claimed?</b> No. The review
  24. process will hopefully eliminate the most seriously flawed libraries, but a well
  25. constructed library with hidden defects is likely to slip through. Encouraging ordinary
  26. users to report their experience with a library is intended to address such concerns. </p>
  27. <p><b>How does someone submit a comment?</b>&nbsp; Send email to <a
  28. href="mailto:boost@egroups.com">boost@egroups.com</a>. </p>
  29. <p><strong>How does someone submit a library?</strong> See <a href="lib_guide.htm">Library
  30. Guidelines</a></p>
  31. <p><b>Are commercial libraries requiring a fee acceptable?</b> No. However, a library that
  32. a commercial enterprise makes available without fee is acceptable. If the description of
  33. the library makes a low-key plug for the supplier, that is acceptable as long as the
  34. library delivers real value and isn&#146;t just a Trojan horse for the plug.</p>
  35. <p><b>Are shareware libraries acceptable?</b> No. At least initially, only free libraries
  36. will be accepted.</p>
  37. <p><strong>Are open source license libraries acceptable?</strong>&nbsp; Some
  38. are, many are not.
  39. Open source licenses often require redistribution or availability of source code,
  40. inclusion of license document with machine-executable redistribution, give the initial
  41. developer rights to licensee modifications, or need a lawyer to understand.&nbsp; These
  42. would be immediate disqualifications for many business, commercial, and consumer
  43. applications. Boost aims to avoid subjecting users to hard-to-comply-with license
  44. terms. See <a href="lib_guide.htm##License">License requirements</a>.<br>
  45. <br>
  46. This is subject to review for a particularly important piece of software, or as the
  47. industry changes.</p>
  48. <p><b>Must full source code be provided?</b> Yes, these are source code libraries.</p>
  49. <p><b>What about documentation?</b> A very simple library might be accepted with only a
  50. well commented header file. For more substantial libraries, some form of documentation is
  51. certainly going to be expected.&nbsp; HTML is the preferred form.</p>
  52. <p><b>Are platform specific libraries acceptable?</b> There is a preference for portable
  53. libraries. Libraries will be accepted that have portable interfaces but require platform
  54. specific implementations, as long as the author supplies implementations for a couple of
  55. disparate major operating systems.</p>
  56. <p><b>Must a library do useful work? </b>No. A library meant as a teaching example or
  57. demonstration might not actually do any work.</p>
  58. <p><b>Who owns the libraries?</b> Presumably many authors will copyright their libraries.
  59. Others authors may wish to place their libraries in the public domain. The Boost.org
  60. policy is to only accept libraries with a clear copyright notice.&nbsp; It is up to
  61. potential users to decide if they find the copyright terms acceptable, and to not use
  62. libraries with unacceptable copyrights.</p>
  63. <p><b>What support is available for the libraries?</b>&nbsp; Try the <a
  64. href="mailto:boost@egroups.com">boost@egroups.com</a> mailing list. </p>
  65. <p><b>Is there a formal relationship between Boost.org and the C++ Standards Committee?</b>
  66. &nbsp; No. The people who started Boost.org were all on the committee, but that was just
  67. happenstance.</p>
  68. <p><b>Will the Boost.org libraries become part of the next C++ Standard?</b>&nbsp; Some
  69. might, someday off in the future, but that is up to the standards committee.&nbsp; To the
  70. extent a library becomes &quot;existing practice&quot;, the likelihood increases that
  71. someone will propose it for future standardization. Submitting a library to Boost.org is
  72. one way to establish existing practice - as long as enough people are interested to
  73. download and use it!</p>
  74. <p><b>Is the web site a commercial business?</b> No. It is just some people getting together
  75. as a kind of cyberspace civic association. If it ever needs to incorporate, it would be as
  76. non-profit organization.</p>
  77. <p><b>Is there any charge for submitting libraries or reviews to Boost.org?</b> No. Unlike
  78. the standards committees, you don&#146;t have to pay to volunteer!</p>
  79. <p><b>Will the site include material beyond libraries?</b> The main focus is on libraries,
  80. but if people contribute occasional articles or other material to make the site more
  81. interesting, that could be a nice fit.</p>
  82. <p><strong>How do I download the libraries?</strong>
  83. &nbsp; See <a href="../libs/libraries.htm#Download">Download</a> instructions.</p>
  84. <p><b>Why isn't there a separate boost mailing list for my favorite
  85. library?&nbsp;</b> One of the reasons for boost's success has been the cross-pollination of ideas between diverse library
  86. projects and the occasional look into other threads by otherwise uninterested parties. The more people participate, the less they tend to be annoyed by
  87. "noise".</p>
  88. <p><b>How can I cope with the large volume of boost mailing list messages?</b>&nbsp;
  89. One approach is to use the eGroups digest option; that cuts the email blizzard
  90. down to about three (long) messages per day, so you can glance over the subjects
  91. summary at the top and quickly read what you think is important.&nbsp;The
  92. eGroups &quot;no mail/web only&quot; option is best if you just occasionally
  93. want to look at messages.</p>
  94. <p>Yet another approach is to use your email program's capabilities to filter messages and automatically
  95. transfer them into several boost folders.&nbsp;Then only read the folders you
  96. care about. Boost list posters are
  97. encouraged to include keywords in the subject like &quot;thread&quot;,
  98. &quot;review&quot;, and &quot;CVS&quot; to aid message filtering.</p>
  99. <hr>
  100. <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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