Re: [boost] [build] bjam problems on OSX

From: Matthias Schabel (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-16 22:14:52

> The problem isn't that it's a big annoyance.  The problems are:
>
>   a. it's error-prone.  People who don't use MacOS every day will
>      forget to include a case for "darwin" in a great many
>      GCC-specific build descriptions.  The two toolsets have a lot
>      more in common than they have different, so most of the time,
>      that will result in wrong builds.
>
>   b. It's a terrible name.  "Darwin" is the name of the platform, and
>      is not a good description of the toolset.
>
>   c. Most new BB users will not think of using a toolset named darwin
>      when compiling with gcc on MacOS X.  I've already seen several
>      posts where you had to tell a user, "use the darwin toolset, not
>      gcc."
>
> When configuring gcc to target MacOS, the default assumption of the
> build system ought to be that it's Apple GCC.  "Nobody" uses FSF gcc
> on MacOS.

I am completely in agreement. If you're going to have a build system,
it should do the most reasonable thing on the platform in question by
default. The vast majority of OSX users will have installed the free
XCode IDE and associated developer tools provided by Apple. Boost
should build correctly by simply issuing "bjam --v2" on this platform
as elsewhere.

Matthias