Re: [boost] [simd] Hardware support

Subject: Re: [boost] [simd] Hardware support
From: Niall Douglas (s_sourceforge_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-04-09 08:30:25

> 2. Whether Boost.SIMD will be properly maintained after acceptance
> given the commercial version. Things are less optimistic on this front
> - no concrete plans on supporting other architectures, but at least
> Joel promises to give fair consideration to pull requests. Whether
> that is acceptable or not the review will show.

I see no evidence, nor any reason, why SIMD would be maintained worse
than any library maintained in someone's spare time outside of work. If
anything, being related to a commercial product means that bug fixes and
improvements would land more frequently and timely.

> #1 is critical. Without it being done there's nothing to review.

I'd tend to agree with Robert's view on this. If it's under the Boost
licence, then it's just like any other library.

If copyright weren't a problem, I'd suggest the Apache 2.0 licence which
gives stronger guarantees to the end user (a Boost library doesn't
actually have to have the Boost licence, it's just strongly
recommended). But you don't own the copyright to the entire library.

>> Would people be less concerned if the library had other
>> maintainers
>> with no commercial interest in bSIMD?
> 
> I think that would be ideal.

I see no inherent difficulty here, and as I have mentioned I think
commercial extensions of Boost libraries is a thing to be encouraged maybe.

I also think that people who have never gone out and sold their code
directly for money think there is more risk of "commercial taint" than
there actually is. I can assure you that most of my clients will not
touch any code written nor designed in recent years - they hate being
guinea pigs, or getting locked into niche technologies which cause
future problems for maintenance. Indeed, most clients I have worked for
use a version of Boost at least two years old precisely avoid surprises.

A funny thing is that I have never used a single line of my Boost-like
code ever in any work done for clients. Too risky and experimental.

Niall

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