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  10. <title>Boost Formal Review Process</title>
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  29. <h1>Boost Formal Review Process</h1>
  30. <p><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a><br>
  31. <a href="#Comments">What to include in Review Comments</a><br>
  32. <a href="#Results">Results</a><br>
  33. <a href="#Review_Manager">Notes for Review Managers</a><br>
  34. <a href="#Submitters">Notes for Library Submitters</a><br>
  35. <a href="#Wizard">Review Wizard</a><br>
  36. <a href="#Fast-Track">Fast Track Reviews</a></p>
  37. <h2><a name="Introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
  38. <p>Proposed libraries are accepted into Boost only after undergoing a
  39. formal review, where Boost mailing list members comment on their
  40. evaluation of the library.</p>
  41. <p>The final "accept" or "reject" decision is made by the <a href=
  42. "#Review_Manager">Review Manager</a>, based on the review comments
  43. received from boost mailing list members.</p>
  44. <p>Boost mailing list members are encouraged to submit Formal Review
  45. comments:</p>
  46. <blockquote>
  47. <ul>
  48. <li>Publicly on the mailing list.</li>
  49. <li>Privately to the Review Manager.</li>
  50. </ul>
  51. </blockquote>
  52. <p>Private comments to a library submitter may be helpful to her or him,
  53. but won't help the Review Manager reach a decision, so the other forms
  54. are preferred.</p>
  55. <h2>What to include in Review <a name="Comments">Comments</a></h2>
  56. <p>Your comments may be brief or lengthy, but basically the Review
  57. Manager needs your evaluation of the library.&nbsp; If you identify
  58. problems along the way, please note if they are minor, serious, or
  59. showstoppers.</p>
  60. <p>The goal of a Boost library review is to improve the library through
  61. constructive criticism, and at the end a decision must be made: is the
  62. library good enough at this point to accept into Boost? If not, we hope to
  63. have provided enough constructive criticism for it to be improved and
  64. accepted at a later time. The Serialization library is a good example of how
  65. constructive criticism resulted in revisions resulting in an excellent
  66. library that was accepted in its second review.</p>
  67. <p>Here are some questions you might want to answer in your review:</p>
  68. <ul>
  69. <li>What is your evaluation of the design?<br>
  70. </li>
  71. <li>What is your evaluation of the implementation?<br>
  72. </li>
  73. <li>What is your evaluation of the documentation?<br>
  74. </li>
  75. <li>What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the
  76. library?<br>
  77. </li>
  78. <li>Did you try to use the library?&nbsp; With what compiler?&nbsp; Did
  79. you have any problems?<br>
  80. </li>
  81. <li>How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick
  82. reading? In-depth study?<br>
  83. </li>
  84. <li>Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain?</li>
  85. </ul>
  86. <p>And finally, every review should answer this question:<br>
  87. </p>
  88. <ul>
  89. <li>Do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost
  90. library?&nbsp; Be sure to say this explicitly so that your other
  91. comments don't obscure your overall opinion.</li>
  92. </ul>
  93. <p>Many reviews include questions for library authors. Authors are
  94. interested in defending their library against your criticisms; otherwise
  95. they would not have brought their library up for review. If you don't get a
  96. response to your question quickly, be patient; if it takes too long or you
  97. don't get an answer you feel is sufficient, ask again or try to rephrase the
  98. question. Do remember that English is not the native language for many
  99. Boosters, and that can cause misunderstandings.<br>
  100. <br>
  101. E-mail is a poor communication medium, and even if messages rarely get lost
  102. in transmission, they often get drowned in the deluge of other messages.
  103. Don't assume that an unanswered message means you're being ignored. Given
  104. constructively, criticism will be taken better and have more positive
  105. effects, and you'll get the answers you want.</p>
  106. <h2><a name="Results">Results</a></h2>
  107. <p>At the conclusion of the comment period, the Review Manager will post
  108. a message to the mailing list saying if the library has been accepted or
  109. rejected.&nbsp; A rationale is also helpful, but its extent is up to the
  110. Review Manager. If there are suggestions, or conditions that must be met
  111. before final inclusion, they should be stated.</p>
  112. <h2>Notes for <a name="Review_Manager">Review Manager</a>s</h2>
  113. <p>Before a library can be scheduled for formal review, an active boost
  114. member not connected with the library submission must volunteer to be the
  115. "Review Manager" for the library.</p>
  116. <p>The Review Manager:</p>
  117. <ul>
  118. <li>Checks the submission to make sure it really is complete enough to
  119. warrant formal review.&nbsp; See the <a href="lib_guide.htm">Boost
  120. Library Requirements and Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; If necessary, work with
  121. the submitter to verify the code compiles and runs correctly on several
  122. compilers and platforms.</li>
  123. <li>Finalizes the schedule with the <a href="#Wizard">Review Wizard</a>
  124. and the submitter .</li>
  125. <li>
  126. Posts a notice of the review schedule on the
  127. regular <b><a href= "mailto:boost@lists.boost.org">boost</a></b>
  128. mailing list,
  129. the <b><a href="mailto:boost-users@lists.boost.org">boost-users</a></b>
  130. mailing list, and the
  131. <b><a href="mailto:boost-announce@lists.boost.org">boost-announce</a></b>
  132. mailing list.
  133. <ul>
  134. <li>The notice should include a brief description of the library
  135. and what it does, to let readers know if the library is one they
  136. are interested in reviewing.</li>
  137. <li>If the library is known to fail with certain compilers, please
  138. mention them in the review notice so reviewers with those compilers
  139. won't waste time diagnosing known problems.</li>
  140. </ul>
  141. </li>
  142. <li>Inspects the Boost <a href="../libs/libraries.htm">library
  143. catalogue</a> for libraries which may interact with the new submission.
  144. These potential interactions should be pointed out in the review
  145. announcement, and the author(s) of these libraries should be privately
  146. notified and urged to participate in the review.</li>
  147. <li>Urges people to do reviews if they aren't forthcoming.</li>
  148. <li>Follows review discussions regarding the library, moderating or
  149. answering questions as needed.</li>
  150. <li>Asks the <a href="#Wizard">review wizard</a> for permission
  151. to extend the review schedule if it appears that too few reviews will
  152. be submitted during the review period.</li>
  153. <li>Decides if there is consensus to accept the library, and if there
  154. are any conditions attached.</li>
  155. <li>
  156. Posts a notice of the <a href="#Results">review results</a> on the
  157. regular <b><a href= "mailto:boost@lists.boost.org">boost</a></b>
  158. mailing list,
  159. the <b><a href="mailto:boost-users@lists.boost.org">boost-users</a></b>
  160. mailing list, and the
  161. <b><a href="mailto:boost-announce@lists.boost.org">boost-announce</a></b>
  162. mailing list.
  163. </ul>
  164. <p>In other words, it is the Review Manager's responsibility to make sure
  165. the review process works smoothly.</p>
  166. <h2>Notes for Library <a name="Submitters">Submitters</a></h2>
  167. <p>See <a href="submission_process.htm">Submission Process</a> for a
  168. description of the steps a library developer goes through to get a
  169. library accepted by Boost.</p>
  170. <p>A proposed library should remain stable during the review period; it
  171. will just confuse and irritate reviewers if there are numerous
  172. changes.&nbsp; It is, however, useful to upload fixes for serious bugs
  173. right away, particularly those which prevent reviewers from fully
  174. evaluating the library.&nbsp; Post a notice of such fixes on the mailing
  175. list.</p>
  176. <p>Library improvements suggested by reviewers should normally be held
  177. until after the completion of review period.&nbsp; If the suggested
  178. changes might affect reviewer's judgments,&nbsp;post a notice of the
  179. pending change on the mailing list.</p>
  180. <h2>Review <a name="Wizard">Wizard</a></h2>
  181. <p>The Review Wizard coordinates the formal review schedule:</p>
  182. <ul>
  183. <li>Maintains a list of review manager volunteers, in the form of a
  184. queue, so that volunteers who least recently managed reviews become the
  185. prime candidates for upcoming reviews.</li>
  186. <li>When a formal review is requested for a library:</li>
  187. <li style="list-style: none">
  188. &nbsp;<ul>
  189. <li>Assign a review manager and suggests a schedule, after checking
  190. (via private email) availability of the volunteers at the top of
  191. review manager queue.</li>
  192. <li>Finalize the schedule, once the review manager verifies the
  193. library is actually ready for review.</li>
  194. <li>Resolve schedule slips or other issues with review managers and
  195. submitters.</li>
  196. </ul>
  197. </li>
  198. <li>Maintains a schedule of both past and pending reviews, in the form
  199. of the <a href="formal_review_schedule.html">Review Schedule</a> web
  200. page.</li>
  201. <li>Resolves questions from review managers and library submitters, who
  202. sometimes want a third opinion on questions such as "Should we extend
  203. the review period because ...?"</li>
  204. <li>Monitors the general review process, and makes minor adjustments as
  205. needed, or queries the list about possible major adjustments.</li>
  206. </ul>
  207. The role of Boost Review Wizard is currently played by John
  208. Phillips (phillips at mps dot ohio-state dot edu) and Ronald
  209. Garcia (garcia at cs dot indiana dot edu).
  210. <h2><a name="Fast-Track">Fast Track Reviews</a></h2>
  211. <p>To qualify for fast track review:</p>
  212. <ul>
  213. <li>The component must be small.</li>
  214. <li>The technique must be already in use in Boost libraries and the new
  215. component provides a common implementation.</li>
  216. <li>A full Boost-conformant implementation is available in the sandbox.</li>
  217. <li>The Review Wizard determines that the proposal qualifies for fast
  218. track review.</li>
  219. </ul>
  220. <p>Procedure:</p>
  221. <ul>
  222. <li>The Boost Review Wizard posts a review announcement to the main Boost
  223. developer's list. The review period will normally last for 5 days. No two
  224. fast track reviews will run in parallel. Fast track reviews may run during
  225. full reviews, though generally this is to be avoided.</li>
  226. <li>After the review period ends, the submitter will post a review summary
  227. containing proposed changes to the reviewed implementation.</li>
  228. <li>The Review Wizard will accept or reject the proposed library and
  229. proposed changes.</li>
  230. <li>After applying the proposed changes, the component is checked into CVS
  231. like any other library.<br>
  232. &nbsp;</li>
  233. </ul>
  234. <hr>
  235. <p>Revised
  236. <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->10 October, 2006<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38930" --></p>
  237. <p>© Copyright Beman Dawes 2000</p>
  238. <p>
  239. Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
  240. accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or copy
  241. at <a href=
  242. "http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
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