Where do I find an up-to-date version of boost?

Where can I find up-to-date packages for boost on Maverick/Natty/Oneiric/Precise?

Ideally, I would like the latest 1.47.0 and be able to update that to the next release when it comes out.

Using the packages in the standard repositories is the recommended way to ensure that you have both a stable system and also be supported through an upgrade to the next Ubuntu release.

You can install extra testing repositories - called PPA's. These are available through launchpad and should really be used for testing new software.

One such PPA I found is this one by Daniel Pfeifer.

Please see this question which explains the purpose of the PPA from its author.

You should note - some people have found several issues with the use of this PPA. As such, you should perhaps consider compiling boost yourself using the linked step-by-step guide

To Install from PPA

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:purplekarrot/ppa 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

To Remove

I would remove the PPA before attempting to upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu:

ppa-purge ppa:purplekarrot/ppa 

https://launchpad.net/~jkeiren/+archive/ppa has a no-change backport of boost1.48. You should be able to upgrade to Precise while using that PPA.

Note that many Boost libraries are header only, so you may be able to get away with just downloading the Boost tarball and including what you need.