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<h1>Boost Formal Review Process</h1>
<p>The Formal Review process determines if a proposed library should be accepted
as a Boost library.</p>
<p>The final &quot;accept&quot; or &quot;reject&quot; decision is made by the <a href="#Review Manager">
Review Manager</a>, based on review comments received from boost mailing list
members.</p>
<p>Reviews are scheduled so that:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Each library gets review time proportional to its size, complexity, and
    importance.</li>
  <li>Only a small number of libraries are under active review at any one time.</li>
  <li>Members know ahead of time when a particular library will be under active
    review.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<h2>Comments</h2>
<p> Boost mailing list members are encouraged to submit Formal Review
comments:</p>
<blockquote>
  <ul>
    <li>Publicly on the mailing list.</li>
    <li>Privately to the Review Manager.</li>
    <li>Privately to the library submitter.</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Private comments to a library submitter may be helpful to her or him, but
won't help the Review Manager reach a decision, so the other forms are
preferred.</p>
<h2>Preparing review comments</h2>
<p>Comments may be brief or lengthy, but basically the Review Manager needs your
answers to several questions.&nbsp; If you identify problems along the way,
please note if they are minor, serious, or showstoppers.</p>
<ul>
  <li>What is your evaluation of the design?<br>
  </li>
  <li>What is your evaluation of the implementation?<br>
  </li>
  <li>What is your evaluation of the documentation?<br>
  </li>
  <li>What is your evaluation of the potential usefulness of the library?<br>
  </li>
  <li>Did you try to use the library?&nbsp; With what compiler?&nbsp; Did you
    have any problems?<br>
  </li>
  <li>How much effort did you put into your evaluation? A glance? A quick
    reading? In-depth study?<br>
  </li>
  <li>Are you knowledgeable about the problem domain?<br>
  </li>
  <li>Finally, do you think the library should be accepted as a Boost
    library?&nbsp; Be sure to say this explicitly so that your other comments
    don't obscure your overall opinion.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Results</h2>
<p>At the conclusion of the comment period, the Review Manager will post a
message to the mailing list saying if the library has been accepted or
rejected.&nbsp; A rationale should be provided, but its extent is up to the
Review Manager.</p>
<h2>Notes for <a name="Review Manager"> Review Manager</a>s</h2>
<p>Before a library can be scheduled for formal review, an active boost member not
connected with the library submission must volunteer to be the &quot;Review
Manager&quot; for the library.</p>
<p>The review manager:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Checks the submission to make sure it really is complete enough to warrant
    formal review.&nbsp; See the <a href="lib_guide.htm">Boost Library
    Requirements and Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; If necessary, work with the submitter
    to verify the code compiles and runs correctly on several compilers and
    platforms.</li>
  <li>Sets the schedule, after discussion with the boost webmaster, currently
    Beman Dawes.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Posts a notice of the review schedule on both the regular boost mailing
    list and the boost-announce mailing list.</li>
  <li>Urges people to do reviews if they aren't forthcoming.</li>
  <li>Follows review discussions regarding the library, moderating or answering
    questions as needed.</li>
  <li>Decides if
there is consensus to accept the library, and if there are any conditions
    attached.</li>
  <li>Posts a message informing members of the review results.</li>
</ul>
<p>In other words, it is the Review Manager's responsibility to make sure the
review process stays on track.</p>
<h2>Notes for Library Authors</h2>
<p>A proposed library should remain stable during the review period; it will just
confuse and irritate reviewers if there are numerous changes.&nbsp; It
is, however, useful to upload fixes for serious bugs right away, particularly
those which prevent reviewers from fully evaluating the library.&nbsp; Post a
notice of such fixes on the mailing list.</p>
<p>Library improvements suggested by reviewers should be held until after the
completion of review period. Such changes can then be incorporated in the <a href="submission_process.htm#Final">final
submission file</a> sent to the webmaster for posting.&nbsp; If the suggested
changes might affect reviewer's judgments,&nbsp; post a notice of the pending
change on the mailing list.</p>
<hr>
<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->24 April, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="29814" --></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

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