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-rw-r--r--boost.md163
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Boost
=====
+Below you can find the steps required to build Boost libraries on Windows.
+These steps tightly fit my typical workflow, which is to use Boost libraries in
+CMake builds using either Visual Studio or the combination of Cygwin &
+MinGW-w64.
+I would expect, however, that the procedure for the latter toolset can easily
+be adjusted for generic GCC distributions (including vanilla GCCs found in
+popular Linux distributions).
+
+One of the features of this workflow is that I build throwaway, "run once on
+each VM, record the results, and scrap it" executables not more often than not,
+so I prefer to link everything statically, including for instance the C/C++
+runtimes.
+This is implemented by passing `runtime-link=static` to Boost's build utility
+`b2`; change this to `runtime-link=dynamic` to link the runtime dynamically.
+
Visual Studio
-------------
-### x86
+Statically-linked Boost libraries are built by default, both the debug and the
+release versions of them.
+While it is required to keep x86/x64 libraries in different directories (to
+avoid file name clashes), it's not necessary to separate debug libraries from
+their release counterparts, because that information is actually encoded in
+file names (the "gd" suffix).
-From either "x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt" or "x86 Native Tools Command
-Prompt":
+### x86
- > cd
- D:\workspace\third-party\boost_1_61_0\msvc
+```
+> cd
+D:\workspace\third-party\boost_1_61_0\msvc
- > bootstrap
- ...
+> bootstrap
+...
- > b2 --stagedir=stage\x86 ^
- --with-filesystem ^
- --with-program_options ^
- ...
+> b2 --stagedir=stage\x86 ^
+ runtime-link=static ^
+ --with-filesystem ^
+ --with-program_options ^
...
+...
+```
### x64
-From either "x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt" or "x64 Native Tools Command
-Prompt":
+The only important difference is that you have to pass `address-model=64` to
+`b2` (notice also the different "stage" directory).
- > cd
- D:\workspace\third-party\boost_1_61_0\msvc
+```
+> cd
+D:\workspace\third-party\boost_1_61_0\msvc
- > bootstrap
- ...
+> bootstrap
+...
- > b2 --stagedir=stage\x64 ^
- address-model=64 ^
- --with-filesystem ^
- --with-program_options ^
- ...
+> b2 --stagedir=stage\x64 ^
+ runtime-link=static ^
+ address-model=64 ^
+ --with-filesystem ^
+ --with-program_options ^
...
+...
+```
Cygwin + MinGW-w64
------------------
+Contrary to the Visual Studio example above, it is required to store debug and
+release libraries *as well as* x86 and x64 libraries in different directories.
+It is required to avoid file name clashes; unlike the Visual Studio "toolset"
+(in Boost's terms), GCC-derived toolsets don't encode any information (like
+whether the debug or the release version of a library was built) in file names.
+
+Also, linking the runtime statically doesn't really make sense for MinGW, as it
+always links to msvcrt.dll, which is [simply Visual Studio 6.0 runtime].
+
+[simply Visual Studio 6.0 runtime]: https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw-w64/wiki2/The%20case%20against%20msvcrt.dll/
+
+In the examples below, only the debug versions of the libraries are built.
+Build the release versions by executing the same command, and substituting
+`variant=release` and the proper "stage" directory path.
+
### x86
- > cd
- /cygdrive/d/workspace/third-party/boost_1_61_0/mingw/x86
+```
+> cd
+/cygdrive/d/workspace/third-party/boost_1_61_0/mingw
- > ./bootstrap.sh
- ...
+> ./bootstrap.sh
+...
- > cat user-config-x86.jam
- using gcc : : i686-w64-mingw32-g++.exe ;
-
- > ./b2 toolset=gcc-mingw \
- target-os=windows \
- link=static \
- variant=debug \
- --stagedir=stage/debug \
- --user-config=user-config-x86.jam \
- --with-filesystem \
- --with-program_options \
- ...
+> cat user-config-x86.jam
+using gcc : : i686-w64-mingw32-g++ ;
+
+> ./b2 toolset=gcc-mingw \
+ target-os=windows \
+ link=static \
+ variant=debug \
+ --stagedir=stage/x86/debug \
+ --user-config=user-config-x86.jam \
+ --with-filesystem \
+ --with-program_options \
...
+...
+```
### x64
- > cd
- /cygdrive/d/workspace/third-party/boost_1_61_0/mingw/x64
+Notice the two major differences from the x86 example:
- > ./bootstrap.sh
- ...
+* `b2 address-model=64 ...` (as in the example for Visual Studio),
+* the different user configuration file, pointing to `x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++`
+instead of `i686-w64-mingw32-g++`.
+
+Again, as in the example for Visual Studio, a different "stage" directory needs
+to be specified using the `--stagedir` parameter.
+
+```
+> cd
+/cygdrive/d/workspace/third-party/boost_1_61_0/mingw
+
+> ./bootstrap.sh
+...
+
+> cat user-config-x64.jam
+using gcc : : x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ ;
- > cat user-config-x64.jam
- using gcc : : x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe ;
-
- > ./b2 toolset=gcc-mingw \
- target-os=windows \
- address-model=64 \
- link=static \
- variant=debug \
- --stagedir=stage/debug \
- --user-config=user-config-x64.jam \
- --with-filesystem \
- --with-program_options \
- ...
+> ./b2 toolset=gcc-mingw \
+ address-model=64 \
+ target-os=windows \
+ link=static \
+ variant=debug \
+ --stagedir=stage/x64/debug \
+ --user-config=user-config-x64.jam \
+ --with-filesystem \
+ --with-program_options \
...
+...
+```