[boost] Cross Boost building for VC under Wine

From: Michael Stevens (Michael.Stevens_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-04-29 08:13:09

Dear Boosters,

I've attached a additional Boost Build Toolset description file. It 
allows cross compiling using the Visual C++ 7 tools under another system 
(Linux etc) that supports Wine.

I find this very useful for regression testing. I can build using GCC 
and VC7 directly on my Linux system. Hopefully this will be useful to 
others.

HOW IT WORKS
    There are two possible way to achieve thi Cross Boost build. Either 
to  run all of Boost.build (including bjam) under Wine, OR run 
Boost.build as normal natively and run only the needed compiler tools 
under wine.

I use the latter method. It requires only the native version of bjam and 
does not require a command shell under Wine.

PREREQUISTS
"winevc7-tools-jam" should be placed in the "tools/build" directory of 
Boost.

Visual C++ must first be installed! This best achieved under Windows. 
Once installed the existsing Windows partition can be easily mounted 
under Linux etc. It is probably equally possible simply to copy the 
installed files to some convinient directory.

Wine must be configured so that the Visual C++ tools are in the Wine 
path. That is
    wine cl
    wine link
can be executed from a shell without error. The above should show the 
command line options of the visual C compile and linker.

The compiler and linker in VC7 requires that 3 additional directories 
out of VC7 installation be specifed to the Wine Path. The Wine Path is 
set in "~/.wine/config". Inside the [wine]section add to "Path" =  the 3 
additional directories. For example if under Wine the Windows partition 
appears as C: and the English VC7 was installed:

"Path" = "XXXX;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 
.NET\\Vc7\\bin;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 
.NET\\Common7\\IDE;C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 
.NET\\Visual Studio .NET Professional - English"

where XXXX is what was used previously.

CROSS COMPILING
   The VC tools need to know where to find the appropriate header and 
system library files. Boost build can supply these directly, the only 
requirement is that the enviroment variable "MSVCDir" to be set.
 The new name for the Build toolset is "winevc7". Combining these two, 
gives a single cross compile command line:

    export MSVCDir="/windows/C/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 
.NET/Vc7"; bjam -sTOOLS=winevc7

Notes:
   The MSVCDir directory specified is always accessed through Wine, 
therefore it can be in either DOS or Posix format.
   It may also be possible to setup the INCLUDE and LIB enviroment 
variables directly in Wine. The above method seems the most flexible 
however.

The same should also work for VC6 by simpily creating a copy of the 
"winevc7-tools.jam" and changing the "extends-toolset vc7" to 
"extends-toolset msvc". Since I don't have VC6 I have not tested this.

EXTENDING THE BOOST BUILD TOOLSET SYSTEM
While working on this, a couple of relevant matters have arrisen:

1. The system should be ported to Boost build v2. The following points 
may not be relavant in this case.

2. The existing "vc7-tools-jam" file will not link executables if 
MSVCDir is used to locate the library files. This is because under VC7 
all the system libraries (kernel32.lib etc) live in the PlatformSDK 
sub-directory. In my toolset extension I have used
# Ensure PlatformSDK libraries are in library path
flags winevc7 STDLIBPATH : $(MSVCDir)$(SLASH)PlatformSDK$(SLASH)lib ;
maybe this should be added to the existing "vc7-tools.jam"

3. The build output is placed in the "winevc7" directory. The results 
are however identical to using the VC7 tools under Windows. Therefore it 
would be better to place build output into "vc7".  I have not found a 
way to convince Boost build not to use a new name. Any suggestions?

4. "boost-base.jam" and "allyourbase.jam" were not designed for cross 
compiling! They use the system under which bjam is running to determine 
the names of output files and toolset functions. A clearer distiction 
needs to be made between the requirements of the native system (creating 
build directories etc) and the requirements of the toolset (DLL names 
etc). However the existing system is sufficiently flexible that it can 
be easily overidden in the case of cross compiling.

All the best,
    Michael Stevens


# Boost Build Toolset description
#  Cross-compile Microsoft Visual C++ under Wine

# (C) Copyright Michael Stevens 2003. Permission to copy, use,
# modify, sell and distribute this software is granted provided this
# copyright notice appears in all copies. This software is provided
# "as is" without express or implied warranty, and with no claim as
# to its suitability for any purpose.

extends-toolset vc7 ;

# Cross-compile tools running on Unix compiling with MSVC.
# Requires we overide setting from "allyourbase.jam"
  SLASH           = "/" ;
  SPLITPATH       = ";" ;
  SUFLIB          = .lib ;
  SUFOBJ          = .obj ;
  SUFEXE          = .exe ;
  SUFDLL          = .dll .lib ;
  gLINK_VARIABLE(.dll) = ;             # dlls are NOT linked to directly
  gLINK_VARIABLE(.lib) = NEEDLIBS ;    # instead, users link to import libs
  PREDLL          = "" ;
  NOARSCAN        = true ;
  RANLIB          = ;

# Overide compiler and linker names
VC_COMPILER = wine -- cl ;
VC_LINKER = wine -- link ;

# Ensure PlatformSDK libraries are in library path
flags winevc7 STDLIBPATH : $(MSVCDir)$(SLASH)PlatformSDK$(SLASH)lib ;

#### Link ####

actions together vc-Link
{
    $(VC_LINKER) /nologo $(NOINCREMENTAL) $(LINKFLAGS) $(PDB_LINKFLAG)"$(VC_PDB_FILE)" /out:"$(<[1])" /IMPLIB:"$(<[2])" /LIBPATH:"$(LIBPATH)" /LIBPATH:"$(STDLIBPATH)" "$(FINDLIBS:S=.lib)" @"$(>)"
}

#### Cc #####

actions vc-Cc
{
    $(VC_COMPILER) /Zm800 -nologo -c -U$(UNDEFS) -D$(DEFINES) $(CFLAGS) -I"$(HDRS)" -I"$(STDHDRS)" $(PDB_CFLAG)"$(VC_PDB_FILE)" -Fo"$(<)" "$(>)"
}

#### C++ ####
actions vc-C++
{
    $(VC_COMPILER) /Zm800 -nologo -GX -c -U$(UNDEFS) -D$(DEFINES) $(CFLAGS) $(C++FLAGS) -I"$(HDRS)" -I"$(STDHDRS)" $(PDB_CFLAG)"$(VC_PDB_FILE)" -Fo"$(<)" -Tp"$(>)"
}

#### Archive ####

actions updated together piecemeal vc-Archive
{
    if test -a "$(<)"; then set _$(<:B)_="$(<)"; fi
    $(VC_LINKER) /lib $(ARFLAGS) $(PDB_LINKFLAG)"$(VC_PDB_FILE)" /out:"$(<)" ${_$(<:B)_} @"$(>)"
}