title: Where is Boost.Process?
body: <p>I need to execute a program and retrieve its stdout output in c++. I'd like my code to be cross-platform too.</p>
  
  <p>Having recently discovered the wonderful world of the Boost c++ libraries for all your cross platform needs, I figured I'd just go to boost.org and read up on the documentation of Boost.Process. Much to my surprise, it wasn't there! I then proceeded to figure out what name Boost gave their cross-platform library to start external processes, but haven't managed to find it so far.</p>
  
  <p>A Google search brought me to Julio M. Merino Vidal's <a href="http://www.netbsd.org/~jmmv/process/" rel="noreferrer">Boost.Process</a>, which seems to be the unofficial Boost library I was looking for. Strangely enough, I cannot seem to find a download link on that website. It also seems like there haven't been any recent developments regarding the project.</p>
  
  <p>I was finally able to find a download link for Vidal's Boost.Process on an <a href="http://www.highscore.de/boost/process/" rel="noreferrer">external site</a> and will use that for now, but I'm quite amazed at the effort I had to put in to get my hands on a cross platform c++ library to interact with external processes.</p>
  
  <p>So, why is there no official Boost.Process? It seems like it would be a very valuable addition. Or am I totally overlooking the obvious solution here? Could you perhaps suggest other cross-platform libraries for managing simple starting of and interation with external processes?</p>