Dear All,

The Boost formal review of the MySQL library starts Today, taking place from May 10th, 2022 to May 19th, 2022 (inclusive) - We are starting one day after the announced date and extending the period by one day to compensate. 

The library is authored by Rubén Pérez Hidalgo (@anarthal in the CppLang slack).

Documentation: https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/index.html
Source: https://github.com/anarthal/mysql/

The library is built on the bedrock of Boost.Asio and provides both synchronous and asynchronous client connectors for the MySQL database system.

Boost.MySQL is written from the ground up, implementing the entire protocol with no external dependencies beyond the Boost library. 
It is compatible with MariaDB.

Connectivity options include TCP, SSL and Unix Sockets.

For async interfaces, examples in the documentation demonstrate full compatibility with all Asio completion handler styles, including:

Callbacks:- 
https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/mysql/examples/query_async_callbacks.html

Futures :- 
https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/mysql/examples/query_async_futures.html

Boost.Coroutine :- 
https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/mysql/examples/query_async_coroutines.html

C++20 Coroutines :- 
https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/mysql/examples/query_async_coroutinescpp20.html

Rubén has also implemented the Asio protocols for deducing default completion token types :- 
https://anarthal.github.io/mysql/mysql/examples/default_completion_tokens.html

Reviewing a database connector in depth will require setting up an instance of a MySQL database. Fortunately most (all?) Linux distributions carry a MySQL and/or MariaDB package. MySQL community edition is available for download on all platforms here:
https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/

Rubén has spent quite some time in order to bring us this library candidate. The development process has no doubt been a journey of discovery into Asio, its concepts and inner workings. I am sure he has become a fount of knowledge along the way.

From a personal perspective, I was very happy to be asked to manage this review. I hope it will be the first of many more reviews of libraries that tackle business connectivity problems without further dependencies beyond Boost, arguably one of the most trusted foundation libraries available.

Please provide in your review information you think is valuable to
understand your choice to ACCEPT or REJECT including Describe as a
Boost library. Please be explicit about your decision (ACCEPT or REJECT).

Some other questions you might want to consider answering:

  - Will the library bring additional out-of-the-box utility to Boost?
  - What is your evaluation of the implementation?
  - What is your evaluation of the documentation?
  - Will the choice of API abstraction model ease the development of software that must talk to a MySQL database?
  - Are there any immediate improvements that could be made after acceptance, if acceptance should happen?
  - Did you try to use the library? With which compiler(s)? Did you
    have any problems?
  - How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick
    reading? In-depth study?
  - Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain?

More information about the Boost Formal Review Process can be found
at: http://www.boost.org/community/reviews.html

The review is open to anyone who is prepared to put in the work of evaluating and reviewing the library. Prior experience in contributing to Boost reviews is not a requirement.

Thank you for your efforts in the Boost community. They are very much appreciated.

Richard Hodges
- review manager of the proposed Boost.MySQL library

Rubén is often available on CppLang Slack and of course by email should you require any clarification not covered by the documentation, as am I.

--
Richard Hodges
tg: @rhodges
office: +44 2032 898 513
mobile: +376 380 212