On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Paul A. Bristow <pbristow@hetp.u-net.com> wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Joachim Faulhaber Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 5:49 AM To: boost@lists.boost.org Subject: [boost] A Remedy for the Review Manager Starvation
So this is my suggestion: (1) Let's increase the standards: Let's make it more difficult for a library to be accepted into boost.
Strong disagreement - we need to make it *easier* to meet Boost Quality (and yet improve quality too).
The main improvement should come from more eyes viewing the code - isn't that the strength of Open Source?
To achieve this we need a way to get more 'candidate code' in real-life use by more people for a much longer period of time.
Ditto. That's the heart of the issue, I think.
<snip>
So I believe we most need a 'Boost Candidates' section with a much lower bar to entry, but with regular testing, and Trac.
Good idea. A two week formal review cannot replace the process of discovery and creativity that comes from interacting with and adapting to users over time. In order to mature in quality, new libraries don't need more reviewers, they need more users. I think if Boost packaged and distributed a separately branded, un-reviewed "Candidate" or "Friends" collection that could help incubate new libraries. Just brainstorming... Boost could do something similar to Debian's "unstable" release. Or you could extend the idea of Boost Sandbox with nightly builds and regressions, which would be enormously helpful to new libraries. There could be a regular Boost Sandbox "release" in the form of a .zip or tarball with a link on boost.com. The Sandbox could grow as desired, while only the most popular/useful/mature libraries come up for review and eventually graduate to become full-fledge Boost libraries. This could give boost users and new authors better access to each other without undermining the quality expectations of the official, peer-reviewed Boost release. Daniel Walker