[Boost-build] controlling suffix of a dynamic library file in BBv2

From: Boris Gubenko (Boris.Gubenko_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-12-22 21:56:32

David Abrahams suggested to raise this issue on the Boost.Build list.

On HP-UX/ia64, Python interpreter prior to Python 2.5 assumes, that
dynamic library file has ".sl" suffix.

On a Unix system, including HP-UX, Boost.Build -- both BBv1 and BBv2 --
creates dynamic libraries with ".so" suffix. As a result, on an HP-UX/ia64
system with version of Python prior to 2.5, boost python library tests
creating python extension files with ".so" suffix fail because Python
interpreter cannot load such files. Renaming extension file from foo.so to 
foo.sl
solves this problem, but this is, obviously, not a good solution.

In BBv1, which suffix to use was configurable: there was SUFDLL variable
defined in allyourbase.jam depending on platform. Invoking bjam with
-sSUFDLL=.sl would override the default ".so" suffix.

Does a similar mechanism exist in BBv2? If not, can it be added for the
benefit of HP-UX/ia64 customers using Python prior to 2.5?

Thanks,
  Boris