Simple boost submissions; advice?

Question

Looking for some general advice...

I've been using boost for a while, and I've written several small modules and function (eg: see this SO question) which I think cold be appropriate for inclusion in boost. I've been to the project pages to see about the submission process, but it seems like it's "be on the inside, or don't bother". I can subscribe to the developers mailing list, but I'm not sure I'm qualified to post there: I'm certainly not intimately familiar with all the various boost modules, and not nearly as well-versed in template meta-programming as the people actively participating.

Is there an avenue that I'm missing for "normal" people to send ideas for things which could be incorporated into boost? Or is boost kinda a "open in name only, unless you make it a full-time job" type of project?

Answer 1

I think that you shouldn't hestitate and go to boost-devel. Most likely your code will not be accepted, but it is very likely that you will be able to collect valuable feedback and learn a lot. People there will justify why it can't be accepted in the current form, or how the given functionality could be made more generic, etc. I think that overall it will be beneficial for you.

If you are not comfortable with boost-devel then subscribe and just follow it for some time. And few more personal comments about reading/following the list:

• Find out who is who - some people are active only in very narrow fields, while others tend to have a lot to say in many different domains
• Create some kind of filtering rules for new mails (the load of the list is rather heavy) - some mails are really not interesting
• Observe the review process of the submitted libraries, critical comments, suggestions.
• Subscribe to boost-devel, boost and boost-users - they tend to be quite interconnected. You can throw sprit, threads and ublas lists if you are interested in these projects.

Answer 2

I have been following the devel list for some time. I feel as you do: maybe I am not playing in the same league as these people, but nevertheless you do learn quite a bit from the discussions there.

During the time I have been there, I have found some kind of common pattern for submissions: first query for interest in the library, then offer the library for review. Beware of the licensing of your code: if it is not compatible with the boost license most of the people will not even give it a look. Spending time in the review of some proprietary code seems like working for free for someone else.

Also consider writting docs and publishing, make the library accessible in the internet and have others use/look at it. That will boost (no pun intended) your chances.