Hi,

I recently began using boost in a project on Windows using MS Visual Studio 9.0 2008 using CMake, i.e. the project setup is auto-generated using the correct boost libraries as link targets. In my project, I link to boost_thread*.lib, which should be the import library for boost_thread*.dll.

However, when I compile the project, the I get the following linking error:

Error 43 fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'libboost_thread-vc90-mt-1_48.lib' rsb-chat-1 rsb-chat-1

So it seems necessary to have the static library present as well when linking the executable. At first I thought this was the default auto-linking behavior described in the documentation, i.e. static linking. However, once all needed static libraries are supplied, the final executable still needs the dynamic boost_*.dll libraries. This did not seem right to me...

Now, when I disable auto-linking using

#define BOOST_ALL_NO_LIB

the linker will not try to link the static libboost_thread*.lib, but instead use the boost_thread*.lib that was defined in the project settings.

I couldn't find any documentation on this specific auto-linking behavior.

Is this expected behavior? Maybe MSVS-specific behavior?
Does the presence of the static library actually preclude some dynamic linking from occurring, thus making my executable bigger?
Or does the static library basically just need to be present and auto-linking will actually not use it when it's not appropriate?
Or does auto-linking mix and match, i.e. in my original case, when I supplied the static libraries: Did it link some functions statically, while others dynamically?

Thanks,

Robert