Experience with Boost.Build

From: Dan Nuffer (dnuffer_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-21 22:21:29

Today I tried using Boost.Build for the first time.  I tried following 
the instructions at
http://www.boost.org/tools/build/index.html
I'd like to give some feedback on the documentation and request some 
help, since not everything built.

- The line that says 'chdir my_boost' is misleading, since the boost 
root directory would never be called my_boost (unless the user renamed 
it to that).  Because of the directory structure of the .zip or .tar.gz, 
it would be boost_<version>.

- I got the Boost.Jam rpm, but what is the Boost.Build rpm for?  Do I 
need it?

- The line that says to build the boost libraries actually built 
examples and tests also.  I wasn't expecting nor wanting to do that. 
 How do I build *only* the libraries?

- The Boost.Python build failed.  I don't know for sure since Jam 
doesn't print the command it's running, but judging from the gcc error 
messages, the Python headers were not found (they are in a standard 
place - /usr/include/python1.5, so why weren't they found?)  It would be 
nice if Jam would print out the command it invoked so I could tell what 
was happening.

- The documentation does not mention anywhere where the libraries end 
up.  After looking around a little, I couldn't see any obvious place, so 
I ended up having to search for *.so files.

- The only library that appears to have sucessfully built was regex. 
 It's the only .so file.  There are some .o files for the thread 
library, but no .so or .a.  Searching back through the ton of error 
messages I found this:
libs/thread/build/../src/once.cpp:138: parse error at end of input
Is there a way to get Jam to stop once an error happens?  It would make 
it a lot easier to find any errors!
Boost.Python failed because the build didn't look in the right place for 
the headers.
How do I fix either of these problems?

BTW, I am using boost 1.27.0 with gcc 2.95.2 on Linux.

Also, one final comment: I've been reading the discussion of Jam vs. 
auto tools.  And I echo the same sentiment as others have expressed: it 
would be really nice if all I had to do to build boost was the old 
familiar './configure; make; make install'.  But, I can live with 
rebuilding and installing the Boost.Jam rpm, but unfortunately using jam 
to do the rest of the build didn't work :-(

Thanks,
Dan Nuffer