I don't know what to do about this. Because of the lack of redundancy (i.e. tests and documentation), it's hard to tell whether this library is correct or even to define what "correct" should mean. It seems like, as long as the code is incompletely / incorrectly documented and tested, it's just someone's personal coding project that we happen to keep shipping with Boost, and not really a library for general use. This situation reflects poorly on Boost as a whole and the fact that it centers around a _testing_ library, which is concerned with robustness... well, let's just say that the irony isn't lost on me.
Just one other data point: major updates to Boost.Test have broken my stuff on more than one occation (actually it feels like *every* time there's been an update, but that's probably an exageration). As a result for the multiprecision library I decided not to use it, and wrote my own extensions to the lightweight test framework in /boost/detail/ that emulate (nearly) all the BOOST_CHECK* macros. It's not ideal, but at least I know it's stable and lightweight.
As a straw man, I'll make this suggestion:
- Boost.Test is officially deprecated in the next release
OK. Though I'd note we don't have a mechanism for that... we should invent one though as Pool really should be depricated as well (as previously discussed somewhere around here).
- Its documentation, such as it is, is removed from the release after that
OK.
- Meanwhile, other tests in Boost that use this library are rewritten to use a different mechanism
Which is?
- The code is removed from Boost thereafter
That could be problematic for a lot of people IMO. Leaving Boost.Test aside for a moment, as a basic procedure, how about: * Deprecated libraries are moved to separate section in the library's index, along with a reason why they're deprecated (no maintainer, replaced by something better, in need of serious work etc). * Libraries can move off the deprecated list if their issues are addressed - this may entail a new maintainer (if there isn't one), and/or a mini review to ensure things are back in good order. * Libraries that are deprecated for more than a year without attracting support, are removed, as long as it's possible to do so without breaking too much in Boost (moving into /boost/deprecated/ would be another option). John.