Jam and PDB files

From: bill_kempf (williamkempf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-26 12:13:42

I had a user e-mail me asking if Jam could produce PDB files.  At 
first I was surprised by this, since I thought Jam was producing the 
PDB files.  However, the only PDB being generated is the vc?0.pdb 
file.  Well, I've always relied on the IDE to set this stuff up for 
me, so I didn't have a clue about how to specify things on the 
command line and had to start doing some research.  Here's a diff of 
msvc-tools.jam that I did to generate the "project" PDB files:

C:\home\boost\tools\build>cvs diff
? jam_src/bin.ntx86
Index: msvc-tools.jam
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/boost/boost/tools/build/msvc-tools.jam,v
retrieving revision 1.20
diff -c -r1.20 msvc-tools.jam
*** msvc-tools.jam      17 Feb 2002 22:46:30 -0000      1.20
--- msvc-tools.jam      26 Feb 2002 17:01:26 -0000
***************
*** 22,28 ****
  }

  flags msvc CFLAGS <debug-symbols>on : /Zi ;
! flags msvc LINKFLAGS <debug-symbols>on : /DEBUG ;

  flags msvc CFLAGS <optimization>off : /Od ;
  flags msvc CFLAGS <optimization>speed : /O2 ;
--- 22,28 ----
  }

  flags msvc CFLAGS <debug-symbols>on : /Zi ;
! flags msvc LINKFLAGS <debug-
symbols>on : /DEBUG /debugtype:cv /pdbtype:con ;

  flags msvc CFLAGS <optimization>off : /Od ;
  flags msvc CFLAGS <optimization>speed : /O2 ;

Now there are few issues left, and I don't have the knowledge to 
address them.

Static link libraries aren't "executables" (well, niether are DLLs, 
but in this case the linker treats DLLs as "executable") so a 
<project>.pdb file is not generated.  However, the vc?0.pdb file is 
still generated, but is generated in the build directory (and thus 
causes a name clash with other builds).  I tried to research this and 
have a few links that suggest for static libraries we should be using 
the /Z7 switch.  However, I honestly don't know if this is misguided 
advice or not.  Here are some links that describe this:

http://groups.google.com/groups?
q=vc60.pdb&start=30&hl=en&selm=EK7E3.1224%24nV6.1343%40client&rnum=31
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=38480E48.CEB0E1F4%
40cavedog.com
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=qKpK3.1686%241h3.80430%
40monger.newsread.com
http://www.therationaledge.com/content/apr_01/t_debug_gb.html

Another issue is whether or not the Jam rules should provide an 
explicit way to set this stuff.  The VC++ IDE generates PDB files by 
default, and that's what most people are going to expect and want.  
But there may be others that want a different form of debug 
information, so simply turning it on for all debug builds like I did 
may not be the correct solution.

Hopefully VC++ experts and Jam developers can help resolve these 
issues.

Bill Kempf