ブーストのよくある質問とその答え

・どうすれば、ライブラリをダウンロードできますか？  
ダウンロード解説ページを見て下さい。

・ライブラリにはどのようなサポートがありますか？
ブーストユーザーズ メーリングリスト（Boost-Users mailing list）がよいスタートです。

・ブーストのバージョンナンバーの意味は何ですか？
  バージョンナンバーの構成は x.y.zとなっており、xはたくさんのライブラリの再編など、大規模な変更の時に増加します。yは、新しいライブラリが追加されたときはいつでも増加します。zはメンテナンスリリースの時に増加います。また、yや、zは、その左側が(ｙにとっては、x。zにとっては、xとy)が変更された場合、0にリセットされます。

・要求されたライブラリが動くという保証はありますか？
いいえ。レビュープロセスは、うまくいけば、ひどい欠陥があるライブラリをふるい落とすでしょう。しかし隠れた欠陥を持っている、うまく組み立てられたライブラリーが滑り抜ける可能性が高いでしょう。通常のユーザにライブラリの、これらの経験を報告するよう奨励するのは、このような関心事を取り組むように望まれるからです。どれほどうまくライブラリが特定のプラットホーム上で動作するかについて、指標のためにステータスページを見てください。

・どのようにすれば、ブーストライブラリをうまく重要なプロジェクトに使いることができますか？
多くのブーストライブラリが活発に保守・改善されています。そのため、以前のバージョンとの逆方向互の換性がにあるわけではありません。プロジェクトによって使われるブーストライブラリのバージョンを冷凍して使用して下さい。アップグレードは、プロジェクトのライフサイクルの、問題を引き起こさないであろうわずかな変更の点のみ行って下さい。個別のバグフィックスを常にCVSリポジトリから得ることができます。

・このサイトに投稿したライブラリはどのように受け入れられますか？
ライブラリ提出プロセス（Library Submission Process）を見てください。

・How does someone submit a Formal Review comment?  Send email to boost@yahoogroups.com.  See the Formal Review page for more information.

どのように誰がライブラリを提出しますか？ ライブラリガイドライン(Library Guidelines)を見て下さい。

料金を要求する商用ライブラリは受け入れられますか？ いいえ。しかし、営利事業であっても料金なしで利用できるライブラリは受け入れられます。 If the description of the library makes a low-key plug for the supplier, that is acceptable as long as the library delivers real value and isn't just a Trojan horse for the plug.

シェアウェアライブラリは受け入れられますか？ いいえ。フリーのライブラリだけが受け入れられるでしょう。

Are open source license libraries acceptable?  Some are, many are not. Open source licenses often require redistribution or availability of source code, inclusion of license document with machine-executable redistribution, give the initial developer rights to licensee modifications, or need a lawyer to understand.  These would be immediate disqualifications for many business, commercial, and consumer applications. Boost aims to avoid subjecting users to hard-to-comply-with license terms. See License requirements.

This is subject to review for a particularly important piece of software, or as the industry changes.

Must full source code be provided? Yes, these are source code libraries.

What about documentation? A very simple library might be accepted with only a well commented header file. For more substantial libraries, some form of documentation is certainly going to be expected.  HTML is the preferred form.

Are platform specific libraries acceptable? There is a preference for portable libraries. Libraries will be accepted that have portable interfaces but require platform specific implementations, as long as the author supplies implementations for a couple of disparate major operating systems.

Must a library do useful work? No. A library meant as a teaching example or demonstration might not actually do any work.

Can an existing library be accepted by Boost? Yes, although it would have to be "Boostified" to meet the requirements.  The Boost Graph and Regex libraries are examples of libraries which began life elsewhere.

Who owns the libraries? Presumably many authors will copyright their libraries. Others authors may wish to place their libraries in the public domain. The Boost.org policy is to only accept libraries with a clear copyright notice and meeting the License requirements..  It is up to potential users to decide if the terms acceptable, and not to use libraries with unacceptable copyrights or licenses.

Is there a formal relationship between Boost.org and the C++ Standards Committee?  No, although there is a strong informal relationship in that many members of the committee participate in Boost, and the people who started Boost were all committee members.

Will the Boost.org libraries become part of the next C++ Standard?  Some might, someday, but that is up to the standards committee.  Committee members who also participate in Boost will definitely be proposing at least some Boost libraries for standardization.

Libraries which are "existing practice" are most likely to be accepted by the C++ committee for future standardization. Having a library accepted by Boost is one way to establish existing practice.

Where does the name "Boost" come from? Boost began with Robert Klarer and me fantasizing about a new library effort over dinner at a C++ committee meeting in Sofia Antipolis, France. Robert mentioned that Herb Sutter was working on a spoof proposal for a new language named Booze, which was supposed to be better than Java. Somehow that kicked off the idea of "Boost" as a name. We'd probably had a couple of glasses of good French wine at that point. It was just a working name, but no one ever came up with a replacement. (Beman Dawes)

Is the web site a commercial business? No. It is just some people getting together as a kind of cyberspace civic association. If it ever needs to incorporate, it would be as non-profit organization.

Is there any charge for submitting libraries or reviews to Boost.org? No. Unlike the standards committees, you don't have to pay to volunteer!

Will the site include material beyond libraries? The main focus is on libraries, but if people contribute occasional articles or other material to make the site more interesting, that could be a nice fit.

Why isn't there a separate boost mailing list for my favorite library?  One of the reasons for boost's success has been the cross-pollination of ideas between diverse library projects and the occasional look into other threads by otherwise uninterested parties. The more people participate, the less they tend to be annoyed by "noise".

How can I cope with the large volume of boost mailing list messages?  One approach is to use the YahooGroups digest option; that cuts the email blizzard down to about three (long) messages per day, so you can glance over the subjects summary at the top and quickly read what you think is important. The YahooGroups "no mail/web only" option is best if you just occasionally want to look at messages.

Yet another approach is to use your email program's capabilities to filter messages and automatically transfer them into several boost folders. Then only read the folders you care about. Boost list posters are encouraged to include keywords in the subject like "thread", "review", and "CVS" to aid message filtering.

Why do Boost headers have a .hpp suffix rather than .h or none at all? File extensions communicate the "type" of the file, both to humans and to computer programs. The '.h' extension is used for C header files, and therefore communicates the wrong thing about C++ header files. Using no extension communicates nothing and forces inspection of file contents to determine type. Using '.hpp' unambiguously identifies it as C++ header file, and works well in actual practice. (Rainer Deyke)

What should I do if I spot a bug in the Boost code or documentation? See the suggestions on the Bugs page.

How can I request a new feature in a Boost Library? See the Requesting New Features page.