[boost] Re: Re: Fixes and additions for each release

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-10-31 17:28:45

"Beman Dawes" <bdawes_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:4.3.2.7.2.20021031131929.01f136c8_at_mailhost.esva.net...
> At 05:18 PM 10/30/2002, Edward Diener wrote:
>
>  >Nonetheless, some sort of record of changes from release to release
would
>
>  >be
>  >most valuable. It would be a great help to those who need to update
their
>  >own implementations based on Boost's implementations, especially, as in
> my
>  >case, when changes have been made to a Boost implementation for one's
own
>  >private version and a new release of Boost is issued.
>  >
>  >Needless to say it would also be a benefit to those who are using a new
>  >Boost release and want to understand explicitly what has changed from
the
>  >previous release and what new functionality has been added and where.
>  >
>  >I know from my own experience that it is hard for developers to keep
> track
>  >of every specific change as they develop a product, but I see little to
> no
>  >indication of changes made between releases of Boost in its various
>  >libraries, and find this lack of information disconcerting and
> unproductive
>  >to Boost usage.
>
> Perhaps developers should be encouraged to add a change list to their
> documentation, listing changes between releases which might be of interest
> to users. For consistency, call it changes.html and put it in the
library's
> documentation directory. With a link from the main docs page.

I would encourage that as an effective means of telling users what has
changed. I know I do that for my own distributed libraries and I see no
reason why Boost developers should not do such a thing themselves as a
courtesy to their users. It would also be a great help in understanding what
new features a library has added, if any, with a new Boost release.