Re: guidelines for using boost code

[Nathan Myers <ncm-nospam at cantrip dot org>]

On Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 12:16:52PM -0600, Benjamin Kosnik wrote:
> Recently the question of how to deal with boost code has come up. 
> See this thread:
> http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/libstdc++/2005-02/msg00143.html
> 
> After discussions with FSF legal, the following guidelines are suggested:
> 
> 1) Use or derive from the boost code, keep the BSL license, add GPL +
> exception (C) FSF to changed work.
> ... 
> I hope this clarifies things for all concerned.

I don't want to reopen a can of worms, but when we adopt a boost file 
wholesale, and then alter it, it would be polite to give the changes 
that same license as the surrounding code, so that boost can adopt 
our changes if they like them.  Along with basic courtesy, and as a 
practical matter, helping them adopt our changes makes it easier to 
fold in their later improvements.  While this isn't the default mode 
for libstdc++, smooth cooperation with a sister project may be more 
important than unreasoning consistency.  

I expect to see a lot more adoption of boost code in the future, and
would very much like to see easy motion of improvements between the
libraries where this occurs.

Nathan Myers
ncm@cantrip.org