Re: [boost] [1.37.0] beta 1 release candidate QA

Subject: Re: [boost] [1.37.0] beta 1 release candidate QA
From: Paul A Bristow (pbristow_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-10-27 12:10:21

>-----Original Message-----
>From: boost-bounces_at_[hidden] 
>[mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of Beman Dawes
>Sent: 21 October 2008 13:54
>To: Boost Developers list
>Subject: [boost] [1.37.0] beta 1 release candidate QA
>
>1.37.0 beta 1 release candidates are available at 
>http://boost.cowic.de/rc/
>
>Before pushing these out to SourceForge, we need volunteers to 
>download 
>and install, following the getting started guide.
>
>See 
>http://beta.boost.org/doc/libs/1_36_0/more/getting_started/index.html
>
>Please report whether the getting started procedure works, and whether 
>the resulting install looks OK.

1  Sourceforge note now says

"You have selected the 1.37.0 beta 1 release.
Please choose the file that best matches your architecture or operating system from the list of files contained in this release. "

This could also say the fairly obvious but helpful.  "Extract this to a location of your choice.  It contains a single enclosing
folder boost_1_37_0_beta1. Reading index.html will allow access to the Getting Started guide."

(Of course, I realise that most people will use an installer).

2  I note that there are two files called index.html and index.htm but with different dates. Old and shorter is 22 feb 08. Is this
intended and could it cause confusion?  Neither carry the last edited date, just a copyright year.

3  Is VS IDE "empty project" more suitable for the example in getting started?

4  It would be helpful to show the output(s) from the example(s) by appending:

/*
Output is

1 2 3
3 6 9 ^Z

*/

5  No guidance on where to put bjam.exe? c:\windows\program files\bjam\ or C;\winnt\system32 or add a path to it, for example
c:\windows\program files\bjam\.

Suggest also

"execute >bjam -v to confirm that it is accessible,

and >bjam --help will give some instructions - before you start any builds."

6  The output from bjam is *very* long - it *really* needs to go into a file that you can check at leisure later and can be searched
for errors etc.

So the instructions should suggest how to do this?

For example, I used

bjam >my_build.log and got 154 kbyte of stuff :-(

or

bjam --build-type=complete stage >build_all.log

 and got 700 kByte - of which about half is warnings,  :-( and perhaps errors (I got bored looking!).

7  There are still a large number of warnings (without going up to MS level4) that obscure the log messages.  This is *most
unsatisfactory*.  I think we need to enhort authors to put more effort into this - or use force majeur if necessary.
I can't believe that nearly all of them can't be dealt with quite easily, or suppressed.

8  Using the default build_directory /bin.v2, the (sub-)directory is /bin.v2/libs/... - note plural. (I am unclear why this is
needed but there you go). This adds additional confusion with /lib folder holding staged libraries!

9  It might be helpful to say where library files (.dll  or .lib) will end up if you don't use the stage option. (In the
/bin.v2/libs/regex/... sub-folder).  Or to say that you really should use the stage option and/or to make it the default?

10 It would be a lot easy to read the examples if they referred throughout to the most recent version explicitly.  For example,
...\boost_1_37_0\lib\.  If the Getting Started docs were prepared using Quickbook, a macro could be used to ensure that this
happened without any extra effort.

11 Some 'Noddy' examples for *all* the libraries would get newbies going with confidence. (The examples given worked OK, though I
found the regex one a bit arkward).

12  For the many Windows users who are command-line phobic, it might be easier to use a post-build event.  For example (assuming the
subject.txt file is in the same directory as the test_regex.exe for simplicity) you could recommend adding:

Project Properties, Build Events, Post Build event, add the Command line: "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).exe" <subject.txt

when the project is (re-)built, the output window should contain

  Performing Post Build Event...
  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

13  Some simple sanity test for all the libraries built might also be nice?

But none of these observations should delay release.

Paul

PS I note that all four of my cores were quite busy while it built the libraries :-))
(Sorry - I know this is Boost not Boast - but I couldn't resist!)

---
Paul A Bristow
Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal, Cumbria UK LA8 8AB
[phone] & SMS, Mobile [phone] & SMS
pbristow_at_[hidden]