Re: [jamboost] Re: Slight Alteration to Boost Directory Structure

From: William E. Kempf (wekempf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-01-09 11:38:47

> From: David Abrahams <dave_at_[hidden]>
> 
> The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
> that has been posted to gmane.comp.lib.boost.user as well.
> 
> "Simon Bailey <conic_at_[hidden]>" <conic_at_[hidden]> writes:
> 
> > --- In Boost-Users_at_[hidden], "Paul Mensonides" <yg-boost-
> > users_at_m...> wrote:
> >> "William E. Kempf" <wekempf_at_c...> wrote in message
> >> 
> >> > That still misses the point. Boost currently won't help you to 
> > install
> >> the library, but installation certainly wouldn't entail copying the 
> > entire
> >> $BOOST_ROOT tree to the $INCLUDE directory on your system. You'd 
> > only copy
> >> the $BOOST_ROOT/boost tree there.
> >> 
> >> Yes, and this is why I said that it hasn't been a problem for me. 
> > However,
> >> I see where the OP is coming from as well.
> >> 
> >> Paul Mensonides
> >
> > Paul understands me correctly. I confused the issue by making two 
> > requests at once.
> >
> > Mainly, I want to include other libraries alongside boost and provide 
> > a single include path. That is the first wish. Bill has pointed out 
> > that I could move BOOST_ROOT/boost into my INCLUDE directory. I 
> > didn't know that - I thought it might break things.
> 
> There are two ways in which it might break things, though they're not
> problems for all usage models. When Boost.Build v2 reaches
> completion, it will become possible to set up cross-project build
> dependencies, so that you can you can make a project which uses a
> boost library and causes that library to be built automatically when
> it is needed. It will be important to make sure that Boost's build
> procedure is immune to having its headers moved. On a similar note,
> users will want to be able to update their boost tree from CVS with a
> single update, so separating the headers directory in this way could
> cause problems.

I wasn't thinking about the first problem for two reasons:

* Most users currently use something other than Boost.Build for building their own applications which use Boost.

* As you point out, v2 should help with this problem.

> I think both of these issues can be addressed by using a symlink to
> the $BOOST_ROOT/boost directory in your include/ directory, but of
> course Windoze doesn't supply real symlinks :(

Depends on what you mean by "real symlinks" and which Windows OS you're talking about. W2K and XP have "junction points" which are enough like POSIX symlinks to do what you want here.

William E. Kempf
wekempf_at_[hidden]