[Boost-build] "null" output file type

From: Matthew Herrmann (matthew.herrmann_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-02-27 02:11:36

Hi All,

I'd like to register a pre-compile test which needs to run before compiling 
our apps. This is to check for required libraries being installed, paths set 
up, etc. The unit test output types are not suitable since they takes built 
executables as a dependency, rather than being an allowable dependency 
themselves.

My approach was to register a file type, say CONFIGURE_CHECK, which would 
contain a shell script that ran and produced a file on success (and no file 
and non-zero error code on failure):

lib my_library
    : pre_test.configure_check [ glob *.cpp ]
    ...
    ;

This fits well with the bjam file-based dependency design, and I could then 
register a configure_check file type and users would only be forced to 
re-check config on changes to the script.

Question is: how do I make *.configure_check files ignored by the c++ 
compilation steps? Is there a modular way to do this? One hack is to just 
output a .o (OBJ) file with no defined symbols, but I'd rather not.

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance,

-- 
Matthew Herrmann
matthew.herrmann_at_[hidden]
Vice President, Software Architecture
Zomojo Pty Ltd