[boost] Moving files around

Subject: [boost] Moving files around
From: John Maddock (jz.maddock_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-01-10 05:28:20

Can I just fire a shot across the bows before we all get too carried 
away moving files around here there and everywhere?

*The move has to make logical sense* - reducing dependencies is a worthy 
goal, but not if it makes stuff harder to maintain and/or harder for the 
user to find what they're looking for.

Let me give you a trivial example:

boost/utility/declval.hpp was moved into the type_traits repository to 
reduce dependencies on utility.  OK fair enough.  But I see no tests or 
docs, and the docs at the very least are still in "utility".  So now we 
have a situation where maintenance of that functionality is split over 
two repositories each with different maintenance teams.  That's not good.

Perhaps more to the point, if I'm a user and I'm looking for 
boost/something/whatever.hpp, it had better darn well be in package 
"something" or I'm going to be pretty annoyed.  This applies equally to 
folks wanting to use "whatever.hpp" as to folks wanting to submit pull 
requests.

In fact if the above doesn't hold I suspect that

a) Folks will give up and reinvent smaller utilities for themselves.
b) Use an older version of Boost ("I new where everything was there").
c) Not submit bug reports or pull requests cause they can't figure out 
where they should go.

I guess what I'm saying is that while re-factoring is a good idea, it 
needs a vision to improve "discover-ability" and make Boost's structure 
more logical, not merely easier for a package manager.

Now please do carry on as you were ;)

John.