[boost] [GSoC] Bonding period

Subject: [boost] [GSoC] Bonding period
From: Andrew Sutton (andrew.n.sutton_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-04-27 10:09:48

Hi All,

If your proposal was accepted for GSoC 2010, then you will need to read this
email thoroughly since it outlines the basic instructions for getting
started with Boost development and your Summer Work.

There are a couple of things you'll have to do (detailed instructions
follow).
1. Introduce yourself to your mentor
2. Request SVN sandbox access from the Boost owners
3. Get started with Boost
4. Read about bjam and Quickbook
5. Write Code

= Detailed instructions =

== Introducing Yourself ==
Send an email to your mentor from the account that you want to receive Boost
GSoC-related communications from. We're collecting your contact information
in case we need to get in touch. If you have other secondary email address',
please forward those also.

There may be some organizational overhead to interacting with your mentor.
We are still determining the best way to manage some aspects of this
process.

== Requesting SVN Access ==
Email the boost owner mailing list and request SVN *sandbox* write access
for your GSoC project. Be sure to state that you are a student working on a
GSoC 2010 project. Detailed instructions are given here [1] under "Getting a
Trac SVN Userid".

Your work will ultimately be hosted in this URL [2].

* Note to owners: if you want to validate students you can email me or I can
grant you access to the GSoC webapp.

== Getting Started ==
Read this [3] carefully, and follow the instructions. If you want to build
Boost's trunk, follow the instructions here [4].

== Bjam and Quickbook ==
Bjam is the build tool used to compile Boost libraries, test suites,
examples, and applications. For information on writing Bjam project files,
read the manual, here [5].

Quickbook is the preferred* tool used to document the Boost libraries. It is
a frontend to the BoostBook XML schema, which is an extension of the DocBook
schema. The documentation toolchain is used to build online and PDF
documentation for the Boost libraries. Documentation for writing Quickbook
files can be found here [6].

* I could be wrong, but it is popular and also quite nice.

== Writing Code ==
I would suggest trying to build (and document) some small example programs
using the Boost development environment before diving in to your project.
For example, port some of your programming assignments to Boost -- just
don't commit them to the SVN repository :) This will help familiarize you
with the Boost infrastructure.

Also, read the Boost Guidelines and Requirements [7] before starting your
project. These determine the layout of your directory structuring, how to
name your files, and basic styles used throughout the Boost C++ Libraries.

Additional information on techniques for generic programming can also be
found here [8]. These techniques are used throughout many Boost libraries
and are definitely worth reading about and understanding.

I think that's about it for now. If I missed something, hopefully one of the
other contributors will be able to point it out :)

Welcome to Boost, and good luck on your summer projects!

Andrew Sutton
andrew.n.sutton_at_[hidden]

[1] https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/#GettingaTracSVNUserid
[2] http://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/sandbox/SOC/2010/
[3] http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_42_0/more/getting_started/index.html
[4] https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/BoostSubversion
[5] http://www.boost.org/doc/tools/build/doc/html/index.html
[6] http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_42_0/doc/html/quickbook.html
[7] http://www.boost.org/development/requirements.html
[8] http://www.boost.org/community/generic_programming.html