View Image

Boost provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries

Boost provides free portable peer-reviewed C++ libraries. The emphasis is on portable libraries which work well with the C++ Standard Library.

We emphasize libraries that work well with the C++ Standard Library. Boost libraries are intended to be widely useful, and usable across a broad spectrum of applications. The Boost license encourages both commercial and non-commercial use.

We aim to establish "existing practice" and provide reference implementations so that Boost libraries are suitable for eventual standardization. Ten Boost libraries are included in the C++ Standards Committee's Library Technical Report (TR1) and in the new C++11 Standard. C++11 also includes several more Boost libraries in addition to those from TR1. More Boost libraries are proposed for TR2.

What about license issues?

Boost has its own license, developed with help from the Harvard Law School. The Boost license polices encourage both commercial and non-commercial use, and the Boost license is not related to the GPL or other licenses - that are sometimes seen as business unfriendly.

What about other intellectual property issues?

The Boost libraries tend to be new, fresh, and creative designs. They are not copies, clones, or derivations of proprietary libraries. Boost has a firm policy to respect the IP rights of others. The development of Boost libraries is publicly documented via the mailing lists and version control repository. The source code has been inspected by many, many knowledgeable programmers. Each Boost file has a copyright notice and license information. IP issues have been reviewed by the legal teams from some of the corporations which use Boost, and in some cases these lawyers have been kind enough to give Boost feedback on IP issues. There are no guarantees, but those factors all tend to reduce IP risk.

Why would anyone give away valuable software for free?

Businesses and other organizations often prefer to have code developed, maintained, and improved in the open source community when it does not contain technology specific to their application domain, because it allows them to focus more development resources on their core business.

Individuals contribute for the technical challenge, to hone their technical skills, for the sense of community, as part of their graduate school programs, as a way around geographic isolation, to enhance their employment opportunities, and as advertisements for their consulting services. There are probably as many reasons as there are individuals. Some of the apparently individual contributions come from employees of support companies with contracts from businesses or other organizations who have an interest in seeing that a library is well-maintained.

Who pays Boost's expenses?

Boost doesn't really have any expenses! All the infrastructure is contributed by supporters, such as the Open Systems Lab at Indiana University, SourceForge, Boost Consulting, MetaCommunications, and the individuals, companies, and other organizations who run the regression tests. Borland, HP, Intel, and Microsoft have contributed compilers. And hundreds, or even thousands, of programmers contribute their time. That's what makes Boost possible.