Re: [Boost-build] How best to combine "using xxx", toolset invocation, and conditions?

Subject: Re: [Boost-build] How best to combine "using xxx", toolset invocation, and conditions?
From: Jess Peterson (jess_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-12-24 06:54:31

Thank you for the explanation.  There is a bug in gcc.jam, since if I have
a project-config.jam file with:

  using gcc ;
  using gcc : mingw : /opt/mxe/usr/bin/i686-pc-mingw32-g++ ;

and a Jamroot with:

  exe hello : hello.cpp ;

and invoke with "b2 toolset=gcc-mingw", then I get both compilers added to
CONFIG_COMMAND

    "g++" "/opt/mxe/usr/bin/i686-pc-mingw32-g++"    -o
"bin/gcc-mingw-4.4.7/debug/hello" -Wl,--start-group -Wl,--start-group
"bin/gcc-mingw-4.4.7/debug/hello.o"  -Wl,-Bstatic -Wl,-Bstatic
 -Wl,-Bdynamic -Wl,-Bdynamic  -Wl,--end-group -Wl,--end-group -g

It turns out that choosing "mingw" as my toolset version was not a
fortunate choice since there is special treatment in gcc.jam that sets the
flavor to mingw if the target machine has a mingw in it.   Any other name
works as expected.

Flavor is not used to find a toolset so toolset=gcc-mingw does not work no
matter what is chosen as a version.  Also flavor adds a tag at the end of
the condition (<toolset>gcc-version-flavor) and produces a build at
.../gcc-flavor-version/... so it is a little confusing.

---------------------------

As an aside, when I made my little test case above, I first put the using
lines in the Jamroot and invoked with --ignore-config.  The first thing
that happened is that it found a project-config.jam from a directory far
above my little test directory, so I added an empty project-config.jam.
 The next thing is that the using lines are ignored if they are in the
Jamroot file.  I am not sure why this happens, but I moved the using lines
to the local project-config.jam.

Shouldn't using Jamroot, instead of Jamfile, make the current directory the
root of the project so b2 should not look higher for a project-config.jam?

Shouldn't --ignore-config make it not look for a project-config.jam as well
as site-config.jam and user-config.jam?

Is there any documentation on project-config.jam and what it normally
contains?

Thanks,
Jess

On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 9:26 AM, Steven Watanabe <watanabesj_at_[hidden]>wrote:

> AMDG
>
> On 12/23/2013 02:59 AM, Jess Peterson wrote:
> > Sometimes, in jamfiles it is necessary to specify flags based on toolset.
> >  It would be nice if those toolset conditions matched the various "using"
> > initializations.  That is, it would be nice if I could say something like
> > "using gcc : w32cross : /dir/xxx"  and on the command line "b2
> > toolset=gcc-w32cross" and in a condition
> "<toolset>gcc-w32cross:<cflags>-w"
> > but it does not seem to work that way.  In particular the gcc.jam file
> runs
> > gcc a couple of times to get the machine and version and then creates a
> > condition like gcc-4.8.1-mingw sometimes using the undocumented <flavor>.
> >  Unless the generated condition is used in b2 invocation and in
> conditional
> > build lines I have problems getting it to do the right thing.  For
> example,
> > if I do not specify a version in the "using" statement, then it will
> insert
> > one into the condition, which might mean that the various conditions in
> > Jamfiles need to change to make sure the toolset is matched.  If I
> specify
> > a version number, gcc.jam will check the compiler version and warn if the
> > version does not match.  If I specify a tag for the version, gcc.jam will
> > generate a toolset-condition such as "gcc-mingw-mingw" for "using gcc :
> > mingw : /xxx/g++" which must be specified rather than "gcc-mingw" or it
> > combines with the default and tries to compile with two invocations in a
> > row ("g++" "/xxx/g++" ...).  All this has led me to some questions:
> >
>
> gcc-mingw-mingw should be a hard error, because
> subfeatures are required to be unique.  Try
> using something other than "mingw."
>
> > 1) Is this the way it is supposed to work or am I missing something
> > fundamental?
> >
> > 2) How does the compiler that is actually used get picked out of the
> > various ones defined in "using" statements?
> >
>
> 1) using adds the specified (or deduced) version to
>   the valid values of <toolset-gcc:version>.  The
>   first value seen is the default.
> 2) using also sets up a rule that says, "if <toolset>gcc
>   <toolset-gcc:version>xxx is present in the target
>   properties then append /path/to/g++xxx to the variable
>   CONFIG_COMMAND (which is used by gcc.compile.c++)"
>   It should never be possible to have more than one
>   match (i.e. if multiple gcc versions appear on the
>   command line, then it's a bug in the gcc toolset).
> 3) b2 toolset=gcc-4.8.2 sets the features <toolset>gcc
>   <toolset-gcc:version>4.8.2.
> 4) b2 toolset=gcc sets <toolset>gcc, then <toolset-gcc:version>
>   is set to its default value (the first one initialized--see (1)).
> 5) b2 sets <toolset> to its default value (we'll assume that
>    gcc is the first toolset).  Then the subfeature <toolset-gcc:version>
>    is also set to its default value.
>
> > 3) I would think that the best way for it to work would be to say "using
> > gcc : mytag : ..." and then say "b2 toolset=gcc-mytag" which some
> examples
> > seem to indicate should work.  If I want it to work this way, should I
> > change gcc.jam so that the condition it generates is "<toolset>gcc-mytag?
> >
>
> It's supposed to work, and I don't think I've ever
> had a problem with it.  There may be a problem if
> you're declaring both mingw and non-mingw.
>
> In Christ,
> Steven Watanabe
>
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