[/
  (C) Copyright 2007-8 Anthony Williams.
  Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
  (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
  http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt).
]

[section:overview Overview]

__boost_thread__ enables the use of multiple threads of execution with shared data in portable C++ code. It provides classes and
functions for managing the threads themselves, along with others for synchronizing data between the threads or providing separate
copies of data specific to individual threads.

The __boost_thread__ library was originally written and designed by William E. Kempf. This version is a major rewrite designed to
closely follow the proposals presented to the C++ Standards Committee, in particular
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2008/n2497.html N2497],
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2007/n2320.html N2320],
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2007/n2184.html N2184], 
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2006/n2139.html N2139], and 
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2006/n2094.html N2094]

In order to use the classes and functions described here, you can
either include the specific headers specified by the descriptions of
each class or function, or include the master thread library header:

    #include <boost/thread.hpp>

which includes all the other headers in turn.

[endsect]