Re: [boost] Distribution directory (was: New boost user)

From: Ed Brey (brey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-10-09 14:34:11

From: "Jeff Squyres" <jsquyres_at_[hidden]>
> $top_srcdir/src/timer
>    LICENSE
>    README
>    docs/
>    src/         (only if there are .cpp files for the library)
>    examples/    (optional)
>    test/
>    ... possibly other top-level files and/or subdirs ...

The preliminary work looks good.  I have a few comments.

There is inconsistency WRT plurality.  The dirs src, examples, docs, and
test each hold multiple items, but two are singularly names and two are
plural.  It seems to sound better if you make them all singular, although as
programmers we are used to our containers having plural names.  If singular,
one could think of the dir name would be like a class name, but that model
isn't as suitable as the container model.  Overall, I'd go for singular
names.

The overloading of src is confusing.  For example, in src/timer/src, each
src means something different.  My preferred solution to this problem is to
eliminate the inner src and move its contents up a level.  This would put
the .cpp files for a sublib directly under the sublib dir, which would be
convenient to developers.

I'd recommend leaving the doc dir within the sublib dir.  A long-term
advantage is that in means in order to download or check out from CVS a
single sublib, there is only one access point a user need specify.  (Of
course, dependencies must also be specified, but at least they only have a
single access point, too.)  A more immediate advantage is that there is less
routing through the tree when working on a single sublib, since docs and
srcs are in one place.  When uses are looking at docs for multiple sublibs
at once, they will likely be in HTML-only land, where the extra layer added
to the tree by the docs dirs will be hidden anyway.