[Boost-users] Unexpected static libraries in Windows build

Subject: [Boost-users] Unexpected static libraries in Windows build
From: Christian Ullrich (chris_at_[hidden])
Date: 2016-12-06 15:59:21

Hello,

I have a question about compiling Boost (1.62.0) itself on Windows, with 
Visual Studio 2015. I want to build DLLs only, but after I run

   .\b2 link=shared runtime-link=shared [...] install

, I have a number of static libraries (libboost_...-mt-1_62.lib) in the 
lib directory. Specifically:

- system
- chrono
- timer
- unit_test_framework
- test_exec_monitor
- exception

The first four also exist as the DLLs I expected to get.

 From testing some previous Boost releases, it seems that the number of 
unexpected static libraries increases over time (1.58 only produces two, 
and more appear with the versions in between that and 1.62).

Why are these static libraries built in a shared/shared configuration? 
Do I need to keep them, or are they some kind of temporary build 
artifact (used to build others, perhaps)?

I have looked through the documentation, mailing list archive, bug 
tracker, etc., but could not find anything on the subject. If I have not 
looked hard enough, any pointers will be welcome. I even looked at b2's 
dependency graph (-d +12), and from that, it appears they are top-level 
dependencies, but I cannot figure out where _any_ top-level dependencies 
are defined, let alone these.

Thanks for any hints,

-- 
Christian