[boost] Re: Re: Intel toolset / library names

From: Vladimir Prus (ghost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-04 08:20:25

John Maddock wrote:

>>  using intel-win : 8.0-vc6 : : <compatibility>vc6 ;
>>  using intel-win : 8.0-vc7 : : <compatibility>vc7 ;
>>
>> And "8.0-vc6" and "8.0-vc7" will be the version in library name. If that
>> version are  equal to what autolinking wants, there should be no problem.
> 
> John runs screaming from the building......!
> 
> OK, so the same compiler could produce any one of:
> 
> "iw"
> "iw-8.0"
> "iw-8.0-vc7"
> 
> This is *impossible* to handle with auto-linking and even worse than
> version 1!

Both in V1 and V2, Boost.Build user can specify any name/version for a
compiler, and there's no way to prevent that. In addition, I can always
make replace "cl.exe" with my own program which will invoke gcc.exe ;-)
The point is: build system cannot be expected to determine toolset version
automatically. 
I think it's reasonable to ask a person building boost to provide explicit
version numbers when initializing a toolset, no? (While msvc.jam has some
logic to autodetect installed version from target path, this cannot be
considered 100% reliable).

> What I really want to aim for if possible:
> 
> For any given compiler, there is one and only one possible name that can
> be produced, and that name can be derived *entirely* from information 
> available to the C++ preprocessor.

This is only possible if build system will compile a special program with
each compiler that will output that preprocessor information, and derive
library name from that.

This sounds pretty complicated and I don't understand why it's needed. Say,
you can detect version of Intel via preprocessor code, and derive autolink
names from that, say (forget about vc-mode for a moment):

  8.0  -> iw-8.0
  8.1  -> iw-8.1 

Now, the documentation for building boost say:

  "When initializing toolset, the version must be specified"

User writes:

  using intel-win : 8.0 ;
  using intel-win : 8.1 ;

and gets the same "iw-8.0" and "iw-8.1". Is requirement to specify version
that drastic? 

- Volodya