Library Metadata

The sources for each library, or possibly a number of related libraries, is contained in a sub-module of the Boost super-project. Each sub-module must contain a file which describes the libraries that it contains. This is located at meta/libraries.json.

Json Objects

If the sub-module contains a single library, libraries.json should contain a single object, for example:

{
    "key": "unordered",
    "name": "Unordered",
    "authors": [
        "Daniel James"
    ],
    "maintainers": [
        "Daniel James <dnljms -at- gmail.com>"
    ],
    "description": "Unordered associative containers.",
    "std": [
        "tr1"
    ],
    "category": [
        "Containers"
    ],
    "cxxstd": "03"
}

Or view: unordered/meta /libraries.json.

Multiple Libraries

If the sub-module contains multiple libraries, libraries.json should contain a list of objects, for example:

[
    {
        "key": "algorithm",
        "name": "Algorithm",
        "authors": [
            "Marshall Clow"
        ],
        "description": "A collection of useful generic algorithms.",
        "category": [
            "Algorithms"
        ],
        "maintainers": [
            "Marshall Clow <marshall -at- idio.com>"
        ],
        "cxxstd": "03"
    },
    {
        "key": "algorithm/minmax",
        "name": "Min-Max",
        "authors": [
            "Hervé Brönnimann"
        ],
        "description": "Standard library extensions for simultaneous min/max and min/max element computations.",
        "documentation": "minmax/",
        "category": [
            "Algorithms"
        ],
        "maintainers": [
            "Marshall Clow <marshall -at- idio.com>"
        ],
        "cxxstd": "03"
    },
    {
        "key": "algorithm/string",
        "name": "String Algo",
        "authors": [
            "Pavol Droba"
        ],
        "description": "String algorithms library.",
        "documentation": "string/",
        "category": [
            "Algorithms",
            "String"
        ],
        "maintainers": [
            "Marshall Clow <marshall -at- idio.com>"
        ],
        "cxxstd": "03"
    }
]

Or view: algorithm/meta/libraries.json.

Json Fields

All meta files should contain key, name, description, authors, maintainers, and category. The other fields are optional.

`key`

This is a unique identifier for the library, typically the path to it from the libs directory.

`boost-version`

The Boost version where the library was first added, such as: "boost-version": "1.33.0".

`name`

Human friendly name of the library.

`status`

Used for libraries with special statuses, currently can have the value deprecated for deprecated libraries, and hidden for libraries which shouldn’t be displayed to the user. Hidden libraries include detail and winapi, both of which are hidden because they are used as components of other libraries, and not intended as stand-alone libraries themselves.

The library coroutine is marked as "deprecated", though this does not mean full deprecation as this library is part of the Boost super-project, and will be tested each time the super-project is tested.

`authors`

Strings containing the names of the authors.

`description`

A brief description of the purpose of the library.

`maintainers`

One, or more, strings containing both the names and, usually, email addresses of the maintainers.

`std`

This is now an unused field.

`category`

A list of one or more of the Categories that the library belongs to.

`documentation`

Path to the documentation, defaults to the root of the module.

`cxxstd`

The minimum C++ standard compilation level at which all, or the large majority, of the functionality in the library is usable. The possible values are:

98 = C++98
03 = C++03
11 = C++11
14 = C++14
17 = C++17
20 = C++20
23 = C++23

The level only indicates the minimum level, which means that the functionality of the library can be used when compiling at that level or at a higher level. There may be some functionality in the library which will need a higher C++ standard compilation level than is indicated by this value, but the information about that specific functionality will be provided for the end-user within the documentation for that library. If a library does not have this field it indicates that the end-user will have to read the library documentation to understand what C++ standard compilation level is needed to use the library.

Note that 11 and 14 are commonly set minimum levels.

Library Metadata

Json Objects

Multiple Libraries

Json Fields

key

boost-version

name

status

authors

description

maintainers

std

category

documentation

cxxstd

Categories

See Also