Re: [boost] [build] bootstrap.sh is still broken

Subject: Re: [boost] [build] bootstrap.sh is still broken
From: Eric Niebler (eniebler_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-10-28 19:32:08

On 10/28/2013 4:14 PM, Nathan Ridge wrote:
>>> Why should I install the posix emulator only in order to build boost?
>>> I use boost starting from 1.41 version, and have always built it using
>>> bootstrap.bat
>>
>> Why use the posix emulator? Why use mingw at all? I confess to be
>> totally n00b about this stuff, but if you want to build boost using gcc
>> on windows, it would seem to make sense to me to install mingw and then
>> do things The Mingw Way, no?
> 
> MinGW and MSYS are two different things.
> 
> MinGW is a Windows port of gcc.
> 
> MSYS is a Windows port of just enough of a Unix environment (shell, 
> coreutils, autotools and such) to build projects that use an autotools
> (configure+make) build system on Windows.
> 
> The only relation between the two is:
>  - MSYS, and the original (and still most commonly used) variant of 
>    MinGW, are made by the same group of people (MinGW.org)
>  - People who port Unix programs to Windows, or who just like
>    working in a Unix environment and need to work on Windows,
>    often use the two together.
> 
> However, you don't have to use the two together, and many don't.

Thanks for the explanation. Dare I ask where cygwin fits in? That's what
I typically use, and it is braindead simple (which, apparently, is what
I need).

>> 2) Stephan's mingw distribution doesn't include gcc. I'm wondering how
>> he expects things to work.
> 
> Huh? When I extract http://nuwen.net/files/mingw/mingw-11.2.exe, I
> see a MinGW/bin/gcc.exe.

Oh man. I just followed Stephan's instructions here:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/245604

That's clearly not enough. Is there any step-by-step instructions I can
follow to verify whether the fix is working or not? Sorry for the back
and forth, but I've managed to get myself pretty confused.

-- 
Eric Niebler
Boost.org
http://www.boost.org