Re: [Boost-build] Modifying output names for exe targets

From: Phillip Seaver (phil_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-10-30 12:37:52

Greg Landrum wrote, on 10/26/2007 12:01 AM:
> Hi,
>
> I'm considering moving a project I maintain from make to boost.build
> and have encountered what seems like a relatively simple problem: I'd
> like to be able to specify the name of the files created by exe rules.
>
> For example, I'd like to be able to do something like:
>    exe myExe : myExe.cpp : <name>fooBar.exe ;
> and be sure that the output file from this rule is name fooBar.exe, no
> matter what system I'm on or what type of build I'm doing.
> Then when I do a rule like:
>   install testExecs : myExe ;
> I will end up, again regardless of system or build type, with the
> file: testExecs/fooBar.exe
>
> Is this possible?
>
> thanks,
> -greg

Well, you could do:

   exe fooBar : myExe.cpp ;

...and that would get you fooBar.exe on Windows (at least).  The name of 
the output file is based on the name of the target -- see 
http://boost.org/doc/html/bbv2/advanced.html#id2120913

If you really want the ".exe" extension on all platforms, you could try 
this:

   import type : change-generated-target-suffix ;
   type.change-generated-target-suffix EXE : : exe ;

You'd probably have to put it in your root jam file, though, or you 
could modify exe.jam in your boost-build distribution to just have "type 
EXE : exe ;".  That said, boost-build tries to go with the platform 
naming convention, and most unix platforms don't use .exe (to the best 
of my knowledge).

Another way to handle it could be something like this:  
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.build/13019  On re-reading 
the post, it's not clear that I do something like "exe foo : foo.c : 
<tag>@apago_tag ;" to get the desired affect.  :-)

As far as the install goes, the first parameter to install ("testExecs" 
in your example) is just the name of the install target.  It doesn't 
affect the destination or name of the files installed.  You may want 
something like:

   "install dist : fooBar : <location>testExecs ;"

"install" docs:  
http://boost.org/doc/html/bbv2/tasks.html#bbv2.tasks.installing
<tag> feature:  http://boost.org/doc/html/bbv2/reference.html and search 
for "tag feature" (used in the post I mention above).

Phillip