On 3/24/2010 9:01 PM, John Phillips wrote:
Emil Dotchevski wrote:
On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Edward Diener <eldiener@tropicsoft.com> wrote:
That's why I am suggesting that Boost create some sort of policy so that maintenance of an actively used Boost library be transferred to others whenever the original library author(s) no longer wish to maintain the library.
Why do we need an official policy if someone has to volunteer anyway? It's not like there's an army of volunteers and we have to be careful to pick the right candidate. :)
Emil Dotchevski Reverge Studios, Inc. http://www.revergestudios.com/reblog/index.php?n=ReCode
Emil,
I think where we need to consider an official policy is on the other end. In the current structure of Boost, the author of the library has control of it unless they explicitly cede that control. So, if a developer disappears, no one feels they have the right to mess with the library.
We need to change the expectations on that count. So, developers submitting libraries to Boost do so with the understanding that a substantial period of inactivity while there are issues that need to be addressed means that someone else is allowed (and expected) to step in and become the prime maintainer. Inaction cedes control by default.
I agree with this as a general point and I think that if there is any dismay by users of Boost libraries it is because there is a feeling with certain libraries that the original developer is no longer around to deal with issues and nobody else has been empowered to take over. So if there are problems when dealing with such a Boost library the end-user may feel that he is too much on his own to solve them, or to figure out how to effectively do certain things with the library which the documentation does not make clear enough. Other than that, from this user's viewpoint, I can not understand programming groups which do not give the C++ developer the right to use Boost libraries as he deems fit. The libraries are of such high quality, and the documentation is generally good enough, that any really competent C++ programmer can save enormous amounts of time and write much more elegant and understandable code using Boost libraries than otherwise.