Introduction to Boost Formal Reviews

In order to schedule a formal review, the author must find a capable volunteer to manage the review. This should be someone with knowledge of the library domain, and experience with the review process. See [The Role of Review Manager] for the responsibilities of the Review Manager.

Authors can find community members interested in managing reviews through discussion of the library on the developer list. If no one steps forward to volunteer to manage the review, it is appropriate to contact an experienced Boost member who showed interest in the library. Be considerate that managing a review is a serious commitment; for this reason, it’s better to contact the member off-list.

If you cannot find a Review Manager after 3 weeks using the means above, and your submission is targeting eventual standardization, there is a list of Boost regulars who are also WG21 committee members who have volunteered to act as review managers in such cases. Please try them in the order listed:

Once a potential Review Manager has been identified, contact the Review Wizards for approval. The wizards approve Review Managers based on their level of participation in the Boost community.

The Review Wizards will coordinate with both the author and Review Manager to schedule a date convenient for both.

Before your formal review begins, double-, triple-, and quadruple-check your library. Verify that every code example works, that all unit tests pass on at least two compilers on at least two major operating systems, and run your documentation through a spelling and grammar checker.

Please do not modify your library on its master branch during a review. Instead, modify a separate develop branch in response to feedback and reviews. For bigger ticket items of work, open issues on your issue tracker so interested people can track the fixing of specific issues raised.

The Review Manager will consider all the reviews made by members of the community and arrive at a decision on whether your library is rejected, conditionally accepted or unconditionally accepted. They will post a report summarizing the decision publicly. If conditions are attached to acceptance, you will need to implement those conditions or else undergo an additional formal review.

To qualify for a fast track review:

It is possible that in the review process some issues might need to be fixed as a requirement for acceptance. If a review does result in conditions on acceptance, the Review Manager may request a Mini-Review, at a later date, to determine if the conditions have been met. The Mini-Review is usually conducted by the same Review Manager.

Once an accepted library is ready for inclusion on the Boost web site, the submitter is typically given Boost repository write access, and expected to check-in and maintain the library there. Contact the moderators if you need write access or direct use of the repository isn’t possible for you.

By submitting a library to Boost, you accept responsibility for maintaining your library, or finding a qualified volunteer to serve as maintainer. You must be willing to put your library and documentation under a Boost-compatible license.

You will be expected to respond to reasonable bug reports and questions on time and to participate as needed in discussions of your library on the Boost mailing lists.

You are free to change your library in any way you wish, and you are encouraged to actively make improvements. However, peer review is an important part of the Boost process and as such you are also encouraged to get feedback from the Boost community before making substantial changes to the interface of an accepted library.

If at some point you no longer wish to serve as maintainer of your library, it is your responsibility to make this known to the Boost community, and to find another individual to take your place.

Libraries which have been abandoned will be put in care of the Community Maintenance Team.