I am considering using boost in my applications, but I have a question about the boost license at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt . It says (edited) "Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to ... use [and] reproduce ... the Software".
It also says that any derivative works must also have the same license grant.
If my application uses boost libraries unchanged, is it considered a derivative work?
No. I think derivative work here means if you modify the boost library source code.
If so, does that mean that if I distribute my compiled software, I must allow free of charge use and distribution?
No, you can compile boost libraries into commercial, closed-source software. Darren P.S. I'm not a lawyer, but I know the boost library is supposed to be BSD-like, rather than GPL-like.