Re: [Boost-users] [review][beast] Beast Review Results

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [review][beast] Beast Review Results
From: Michael (mwpowellhtx_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-07-20 11:15:16

On July 20, 2017 3:57:33 AM EDT, Michael Caisse via Boost-users <boost-users_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>In an effort to get you all to just read this announcement
>sequentially,
>I will start with the result:
>
>	Beast is ACCEPTED into Boost without conditions

I'm sure I probably missed a memo early on stating *what beast is*. However, how about even a brief synopsis or summary to lead reports such as this for our edification?

Thanks!

>The entire community is served when the Boost review process works well
>and I would like to personally thank each of you who took your valuable
>time and worked to make Boost better. We had 21 formal reviews
>submitted
>from a demographic that included both seasoned participants and
>first-time reviewers. It is gratifying to have such participation for
>what some might see as a niche library.
>
>  * Thank you Vinnie for your effort to assemble a high-quality package
>    for review and for your responsiveness on the mail-lists. GitHub,
>    and Slack.
>  * Thank you to the individuals that submitted their first Boost
>    review.
>  * Thank you to the veteran contributors and authors for continuing to
>    devote energy to the community.
>
>I found the discussion surrounding the library beneficial and I know
>that Vinnie walked away with actionable items to improve Beast.
>
>--------------------
>The Stats:
>--------------------
>
>While the review process is not exactly tallying up votes and casting a
>verdict, we can gain some insight of the general, gross-scale opinion
>of
>the library.
>
>Official reviews were received from:
>
>   Reviewer               Accept | Reject
>------------------------------------------
> * Zach Laine           :   X
> * Nik Bougalis         :   X
> * Artyom Beilis        :            X
> * Peter Dimov          :   X
> * Klemens Morgenstern  :   X
> * Glen Fernades        :   X
> * Marcel Ebmer         :   X
> * Scott Determan       :   X
> * Stanislav Karchebnyy :   X
> * Michael Larson       :   X
> * Vadim Zeitlin        :   X
> * Jared Wyles          :   X
> * Niall Douglas        :   X
> * Barrett Adair        :   X
> * Gyorgy Szekely       :   X
> * Daniela Engert       :   X
> * Jens Weller          :   X
> * Phil Endecott        :            X
> * Bjorn Reese          :            X
> * Rüdiger Berlich      :   X
> * Christopher Kohlhoff :   X
>
>
>
>Most of the reviewers agreed on the inclusion of Beast into Boost and
>at
>the same time that Beast isn't a great name for the library. (Just say
>Boost.Beast 10-times-fast). Vinnie has a FAQ item discussing the name
>and his continuing use is deliberate. He has heard the petitions to
>change and weighed them.
>
>
>--------------------
>Concerns:
>--------------------
>
>A variety of concerns and comments were made during the review. An
>impressive number of items were addressed in code or documentation
>during the review period itself.
>
>Some of the stated concern for rejection included:
>
>* Too many templates
>* Run-time polymorphism / OO would be better.
>
>* Library scope is too small and provides no real value to users -
>
>  This is clearly one of those value judgements and for some users the
>  not-in-scope nature of Beast made the feature set not compelling
>  enough to use or have as a Boost library. Other users spent time
>  converting existing projects to use Beast. This included projects
>  previously running POCO, libcurl, and homegrown solutions.
>
>  Beast has existing commercial and open-source users. The library
>  clearly meets the needs of some users.
>
>* Premature optimization
>* Security concerns
>
>* Poor support for HTTP chunking -
>
>  Vinnie proposed and then later made changes addressing the chunking
>  concerns. Unfortunately, the reviewer with the complaint did not
>  respond to multiple requests for feedback.
>
>* Licensing -
>
>  Four files have dual licenses (BSL and another). Boost's legal
>  counsel is reviewing the situation and we hope to have guidance by
>  the end of this week. I have not placed a condition on the
>  acceptance of Beast based on the legal feedback because Vinnie knows
>  licensing issues must be remedied before the repository is merged
>  into Boost.
>
>--------------------
>The Upsides:
>--------------------
>
>There were lots of great things said about the Beast package. Some of
>these include:
>
>* Great documentation
>* High quality implementation.
>* Thorough test suites
>* Already being used by commercial entities and others
>* Lots of successful real-life conversions of existing clients/servers
>* Extremely responsive developer (do you sleep Vinnie?)
>
>
>--------------------
>An Author as much as a Library:
>--------------------
>
>Accepting a library into Boost is also accepting an author. Boost
>authors have enormous latitude in the control and modifications of
>their
>libraries. Vinnie has shown dedication to addressing issues, listening
>to constructive input, making changes when appropriate, and protecting
>his vision of what the Beast is. I believe Vinnie will serve the
>community well as a contributor.
>
>
>--------------------
>Final Thoughts:
>--------------------
>
>Reviews are hard. It is hard to have your work torn apart and remain
>considerate. It is hard to repeat answers to previously asked
>questions.
>It is hard to explain specific use-cases and why it is important a
>library supports them. It is difficult to critique a large body of
>work.
>It is hard to stick with conversations to make overall improvements.
>
>I was impressed with the participants in the review. We are all
>opinionated and passionate -- likely a prerequisite to being part of
>the
>Boost community. Thank you all for making Boost better.
>
>I'm looking forward to seeing additional libraries and application
>built
>with Beast.
>
>
>-- 
>Michael Caisse
>Ciere Consulting
>ciere.com
>_______________________________________________
>Boost-users mailing list
>Boost-users_at_[hidden]
>https://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users

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