Re: [boost] [Boost-users] Maintenace Guidelines wiki page

Subject: Re: [boost] [Boost-users] Maintenace Guidelines wiki page
From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-23 15:25:41

on Sun Nov 23 2008, "Robert Ramey" <ramey-AT-rrsd.com> wrote:

> Daniel Walker wrote:
>> I was just sitting here thinking that benevolent "dictator" is really
>> not an apt term for what I'm talking about. I'm really talking about
>> some sort of public servants who would represent the interests of the
>> community of boosters. These benevolent representatives would perform
>> the service of insuring the community's votes are adhered to from one
>> release to the next by judiciously exercising the power of write
>> permission for unit tests on svn. We could call them the "quality
>> congress." ;) Or maybe committee is a better word. Or maybe we could
>> just make this a function of the release manager, if he isn't already
>> overburdened. Anyway, I guess you all get the idea.
>
> LOL - getting into political philosophy here.
>
> This is totally the wrong approach and would consume enormous
> resources and stymy any attempt to actually get anything done -
> pretty much like the "real congress".
>
> The right model is that the author makes his library which reflects
> his own choices and values.  The review process guarentees
> that it meets some consensus about minimun acceptable levels
> of utility, quality, etc.  The it is unleashed upon the world
> as part of the "boost release".  At this point, users review
> it in light of thier current needs. They might use it, they might
> complain about, they might do any number of things.  One
> of the things they do is report on one of the lists.  And
> this guides other users as to whether or not they expect
> to use it.
>
> We can see this process playing as we speak regarding
> boost range.  Looks like its working pretty well to me.

Thank you, Robert.  One of the reasons Boost exists is to be more nimble
than any committee (particularly the C++ standards committee) can be.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com