Re: need help with building QuickBook docs

From: René Ferdinand Rivera Morell (grafikrobot_at_[hidden])
Date: 2022-05-22 00:51:50

On Sat, May 21, 2022 at 6:08 PM Andrzej Krzemienski via Boost <
boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> I cannot just call `b2` for my library, because apparently my Fedora comes
> with preinstalled version of b2 (4.4) which appears to be incompatible with
> something in Boost libraries sources, as I get error:
>
> error: mismatched versions of B2 engine and core
> > error: B2 engine (b2) is 4.4.1
> > error: B2 core (at /home/andrzej/Repos/boost/tools/build/src) is 4.9-git
> >
>

Right. That would be expected as the b2 engine executable needs to match
the build system Jam code to work.

> Ok, I learned to live with it and to launch b2 from tools/build. It used to
> work for a while, but yesterday when I did a `git pull --rebase` on Boost
> repo, it no longer works. I get an error:
>
> Jamfile.v2:45: Unescaped special character in argument
> > <format>pdf:<xsl:param>boost.url.prefix=
> > http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/release/libs/optional/doc/html
> > Performing configuration checks
> >
> >     - default address-model    : 64-bit (cached) [1]
> > error: at
> /home/andrzej/Repos/boost/tools/build/src/kernel/modules.jam:106
> > error: Unable to find file or target named
> > error:     '/boost/architecture//mips'
> > error: referred to from project at
> > error:     '.'
> >
>

Did you rebuild the b2 engine executable after doing the update? I posted
about a new b2 version a few days ago <
https://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2022/05/253006.php>.

> Ok, I can remove line `: /boost/architecture//mips` from file
> `boostcpp.jam`. (Am I supposed to do it before using `b2`?). But then, when
> trying to build the docs, I get a lot of errors, saying:
>
> runtime error: file
> > /home/andrzej/Repos/boost/tools/boostbook/xsl/annotation.xsl line 432
> > element element
> > xsl:element: The effective name '' is not a valid QName.
> >
>
> (Full error message is enclosed.) I have no clue which element in the
> pipeline is causing or reporting this. QuickBook, BoostBook, DocBook,
> xsltproc? The process involves many components, at least according to this
> diagram:
> https://svn.boost.org/trac10/wiki/BoostDocs/GettingStarted

I don't know what's going on either. But given that I don't know what
version of the b2 engine you are invoking at this point I can't provide
much help :-(

> Is this something obvious that I am missing?
>

I suspect the obvious thing is not using the correct b2 engine, at least.

> Is this a good idea, or a recommended practice to use QuickBook nowadays
> for Boost docs?
>

I stopped using quickbook, and stopped helping maintain it, long ago.  As
the toolchain was too complex to deal with. Like others I'm using
Asciidoctor now.

> Any help in fixing my build problem is most welcome.
>

I would suggest hoping into the boost channel on cpplang.slack.com for more
immediate help. I tend to be there most hours of the day. As do others who
know the workings of the documentation building.

-- 
-- René Ferdinand Rivera Morell
-- Don't Assume Anything  -- No Supone Nada
-- Robot Dreams - http://robot-dreams.net