Re: [boost] big problem with dependency changes

Subject: Re: [boost] big problem with dependency changes
From: Paul A. Bristow (pbristow_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-06-16 13:42:47

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boost [mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of Bjørn Roald
> Sent: 16 June 2014 17:28
> To: boost_at_[hidden]
> Subject: Re: [boost] big problem with dependency changes
> 
> On 06/16/2014 12:11 PM, Peter Dimov wrote:
> > Glen Fernandes wrote:
> >> On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 1:28 AM, Paul A. Bristow wrote:
> >> > I'm glad I am not alone in having to nuke the /boost directory.
> >> >
> >> > Am I right to be worried about this?  It should not happen?  Why
> >> does it > happen?
> >>
> >> I've had no problems on my non-Windows (Linux, OSX) machines. I
> >> regularly have to nuke /boost on Windows to get things to work.
> >
> > I'm on Windows and b2 has done a good job so far. I've only had to
> > delete /boost maybe once. I usually don't even bother with "b2 headers"
> > - everything seems to work without it. Go figure. :-)
> 
> For those of you that struggle with this when you use b2 on your system, You
should
> get a line at the beginning of the output saying:
> 
>      - symlinks supported       : yes
> 
> If not, b2 is not able to create symbolic links for individual files on your
system.
> There may be a number of reasons for this, but on recent MS Windows systems it
is
> usually related to user privileges, the tool used to create symbolic links
require
> elevated privileges.
> 
> If b2 are not able to create symbolic links for "b2 headers" targets, it will
use hard
> links or file copies.  Both of these alternatives to symbolic links have
severe issues
> that could cause you to end up with stale files in the boost folder, or cause
you to
> edit files that are later overwritten by b2.
> 
> For enabling b2 use of symbolic links on windows, have a look at the following
> information from the web (quoting from my posting 2 February on the same
issue.):
> 
> refs:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15320550/secreatesymboliclinkprivilege-
> ignored-on-windows-8
> 
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb530410.aspx
> 
> http://superuser.com/questions/148937/windows-server-2008-create-symbolic-
> link-updated-security-policy-still-gives-pr
> 
> http://superuser.com/questions/124679/how-do-i-create-a-link-in-windows-7-
> home-premium-as-a-regular-user
> 
> Most promising may be:
> Provide SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege privilege to the user who is running the
script.
> If the user is Administrator on the machine you may need to turn off UAC.
> 
> Note I have not tested any of this as I have no problems on my systems.
>   So please give feedback to the list if any of this work for you.  Thanks.

Thanks.  This is very useful info.

I didn't think it mattered if hard or soft links but clearly it does.

Don’t'we need to change the instructions *always* "run from administrator"?

Paul