October 2026 - Boost - lists.boost.org

Unmaintained libraries: a tentative list
by Joaquin M López Muñoz 21 Oct '26

21 Oct '26

It is generally known within the community that some of the libraries in Boost are not being properly maintained: issues pile up without a prompt (or any) response from the nominal maintainers, eroding the libraries' usefulness and, ultimately, their viability. There are a number of stalwart contributors (Peter Dimov, Andrey Semashev, and others) who work to make sure CI tests stay green throughout the project, but beyond that they can't possibly address outstanding issues and evolution requests for all libraries. Any initiative to try to remedy this situation begins with identifying its true extent. My colleagues at the FSC and I have gone through all Boost libraries and identified those that we regard as unmaintained, as evidenced by the presence of many important issues that go unresolved without anyone addressing them. This is the list: accumulators, align, callable_traits, circular_buffer, compute, concept_check, contract, convert, date_time, foreach, format, function_types, functional, fusion, hana, hof, integer, lambda, local_function, logic, multi_array, numeric_conversion, odeint, parameter, phoenix, polygon, pool, preprocessor, property_tree, proto, ptr_container, range, rational, scope_exit, statechart, stl_interfaces, tokenizer, tti, tuple, type_erasure, ublas, units, variant, vmd, xpressive, yap Any such assessment is a little fuzzy by definition, so the cutoff point for what's considered maintained or not is subject to discussion. I'd like to request your feedback: * If you think some entry in this list should be removed (because you're the maintainer or you know the library is actually maintained and we got it wrong), please say so. * Conversely, tell us if you feel some Boost library not in the list should be included. * Please share any ideas on how to improve the situation so that we get more people actively maintaining more libraries. For starters, unmaintained libraries could be labeled as such on the website to attract people potentially interested in taking over (and to warn potential users about long-term adoption risks). Thank you! Best, Joaquín M López Muñoz Fiscal Sponsorship Committee

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Re: Unmaintained libraries: a tentative list (Jason Rice)
by Jason Rice 21 Oct '26

21 Oct '26

Regarding Boost.Hana, I was given Collaborator status by the original author which I think he implied it as an honorary role. I would be willing to maintain it if he gave explicit permission to do so. I would be especially interested, if it meant allowing to move to C++26 when reflection arrives. Its interface involves functional programming concepts rooted in category theory which make it interesting and relevant, but compile times can be untenably slow for non-trivial use. On a more general note, perhaps libraries that would be otherwise removed could be allowed to be updated possibly with breaking changes to require newer versions of the standard so they have value and continued interest from collaborators or potential collaborators. Jason Rice > _______________________________________________ > Boost mailing list -- boost(a)lists.boost.org > To unsubscribe send an email to boost-leave(a)lists.boost.org > https://lists.boost.org/mailman3/lists/boost.lists.boost.org/ >

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Re: Unmaintained libraries: a tentative list
by Andrea Cassioli 21 Oct '26

21 Oct '26

IMHO the safest path is to make sure the status of a library is clearly flagged * on the Boost web site * on the github repo (readme and contribution guide?) More over a cleat path for potential new maintainers should be clear. Users, including other boost libraries, then can decide whether to take a risk of using a library with basically no support (personally I would not). On Wed, 21 Oct 2026 at 02:00, <boost-request(a)lists.boost.org> wrote: > Send Boost mailing list submissions to > boost(a)lists.boost.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > boost-request(a)lists.boost.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > boost-owner(a)lists.boost.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Boost digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Unmaintained libraries: a tentative list (Jason Rice) > (Jason Rice) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:35:17 -0700 > From: Jason Rice <ricejasonf(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [boost] Re: Unmaintained libraries: a tentative list (Jason > Rice) > To: boost(a)lists.boost.org > Message-ID: > < > CANfsYuxjMqPvia5Sk3DiT2h8jJkgxWAThDQo2yQsioHpdKDqug(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > Regarding Boost.Hana, I was given Collaborator status by the original > author which I think he implied it as an honorary role. I would be willing > to maintain it if he gave explicit permission to do so. > > I would be especially interested, if it meant allowing to move to C++26 > when reflection arrives. Its interface involves functional programming > concepts rooted in category theory which make it interesting and relevant, > but compile times can be untenably slow for non-trivial use. > > On a more general note, perhaps libraries that would be otherwise removed > could be allowed to be updated possibly with breaking changes to require > newer versions of the standard so they have value and continued interest > from collaborators or potential collaborators. > > Jason Rice > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Boost mailing list -- boost(a)lists.boost.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to boost-leave(a)lists.boost.org > > https://lists.boost.org/mailman3/lists/boost.lists.boost.org/ > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Boost mailing list -- boost(a)lists.boost.org > To unsubscribe send an email to boost-leave(a)lists.boost.org > https://lists.boost.org/mailman3/lists/boost.lists.boost.org/ > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Boost Digest, Vol 7876, Issue 4 > ************************************** >

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[release] Starting the 1.93.0 release cycle
by Marshall Clow 19 Oct '26

19 Oct '26

This Wednesday (21-October): Release branch is closed for new libraries and breaking changes to existing libraries. Still open for bug fixes and other routine changes to all libraries without release manager review. Calendar is here: https://www.boost.org/calendar/ — The release managers

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[iostreams] Maintenance status
by Tobias Stensbeck 19 Oct '26

19 Oct '26

Hello Boost developers, I recently opened a PR on iostreams (#194) and noticed afterwards that the project is quite inactive (only 2 commits in the last year and issues/PRs sit unanswered for years). I would like to understand whether anyone is currently maintaining iostreams and reviewing contributions. This led me to search the mailing list a bit: The original author, Jonathan Turkanis, is still listed as the current maintainer, but even as far back as 2010 there was a message from Edward Diener saying that iostreams looks abandoned [1]. In 2018 Diener wrote [2]: "I have sort of taken over maintenance, since the original developer stopped paying attention to the library a long time ago. However I do not mind if it gets added to CMT and others can help maintaining the library." He was active in the repository from 2016-2021. From 2021 until now the most active contributor has been Peter Dimov (mostly CI/build maintenance). So my questions are: 1. Is there currently an active maintainer for iostreams? 2. Is the Community Maintenance Team still active, and if so, who are its members and could iostreams be put under its care? 3. If no maintainer is currently available, what is the process for arranging ongoing maintenance? Best regards, Tobias Stensbeck Graphics Engineer, Threedy GmbH [1] https://lists.boost.org/archives/list/boost@lists.boost.org/message/YDAE7PN… [2] https://lists.boost.org/archives/list/boost@lists.boost.org/message/LQPXQW7…

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Failed to build boost.locale with iconv - cross compiling on linux targetting Mac OSX arm64
by Frédéric 18 Oct '26

18 Oct '26

Hi, I'm trying to build boost 1.92 on linux targetting arm64-apple-darwin21.4 but it fails on boost.locale because it cannot compile has_external_iconv. iconv is correctly build with libraries for the right architecture. I'm able to run the iconv binary on a mac without any issue. I found why has_external_iconv fails to build but do not know what to do to change the automatic settings to make it works. To compile has_external_iconv and confirm that I have the library in the path I provided, boost.build adds the following flags that make the compilation fail: -m64 --target=arm64-apple-darwin What makes it work is to remove -m64 and have --target=arm64-apple-darwin21.4 How can I have that? Here is my user-config.jam: using clang-darwin : : arm64-apple-darwin21.4-clang++ : <archiver>arm64-apple-darwin21.4-ar <ranlib>arm64-apple-darwin21.4-ranlib <cxxflags >"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/iconv/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/gettext/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/ar m64-clang-22.1.8/release/bzip2/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8 /release/jpeg-turbo/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/xz/include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/tiff /include" <cxxflags>"-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/png/include" <cxxflags>"--target=arm64-apple-darwin21.4" <cxxflags>"-std=c++14" <c xxflags>"-mmacosx-version-min=12.3" <cxxflags>"-O2" <cxxflags>"-DNDEBUG" <linkflags>"-mmacosx-version-min=12.3" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64- clang-22.1.8/release/iconv/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/gettext/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/releas e/bzip2/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/jpeg-turbo/lib" <lin kflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/xz/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/tiff/lib" <linkflags>"-L/softs/arm64-cl ang-22.1.8/release/png/lib" ; Here is my b2 command: CC="arm64-apple-darwin21.4-clang" CFLAGS="-O2 -DNDEBUG --target=arm64-apple-darwin21.4 -mmacosx-version-min=12.3" CXX="arm64-apple-darwin21 .4-clang++" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -DNDEBUG --target=arm64-apple-darwin21.4 -std=c++14 -mmacosx-version-min=12.3" OBJCXXFLAGS="-O2 -DNDEBUG --target =arm64-apple-darwin21.4 -std=c++14 -mmacosx-version-min=12.3" CPPFLAGS="-I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/iconv/include -I/softs/arm64-cl ang-22.1.8/release/gettext/include -I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/bzip2/include -I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/include -I/so fts/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/jpeg-turbo/include -I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/xz/include -I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/tiff/i nclude -I/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/png/include" LDFLAGS="-mmacosx-version-min=12.3 -L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/iconv/lib -L /softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/gettext/lib -L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/bzip2/lib -L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/lib -L /softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/jpeg-turbo/lib -L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/xz/lib -L/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/tiff/lib -L /softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/png/lib" AR="arm64-apple-darwin21.4-ar" AS="arm64-apple-darwin21.4-as" RANLIB="arm64-apple-darwin21.4-ran lib" BUILD_MACHINE="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" HOST_MACHINE="arm64-apple-darwin21.4" ./b2 -d2 -j16 boost.locale.iconv=on boost.locale.icu=of f boost.locale.std=off -sICONV_PATH=/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/iconv -sBZIP2_INCLUDE=/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/bzip2/include -sBZIP2_LIBPATH=/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/bzip2/lib -sZLIB_INCLUDE=/softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/include -sZLIB_LIBPATH=/ softs/arm64-clang-22.1.8/release/zlib/lib --layout=system --user-config=user-config.jam --without-mpi --without-python --without-context -- without-coroutine link=static threading=multi runtime-link=shared target-os=darwin architecture=arm binary-format=mach-o threadapi=pthread define=BOOST_FILESYSTEM_NO_DEPRECATED define=BOOST_LOG_WITHOUT_EVENT_LOG variant=release install Thanks for help, F

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