Re: [Boost-build] path.exists caching?

From: Jurko Gospodnetiæ (jurko.gospodnetic_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-02-11 20:48:09

   Hi Alex.

> I want bjam to automatically checkout missing dependancies.  I created a wrapper rule for 'exe' and 'lib' which checks if sources include libraries from a list of our libs and then checks if the directory exists and if not - checks it out from cvs.

   Hmmm, nice goal, and wiser developers might correct me if I am wrong, 
but I do not believe Boost Build (or Boost Jam, or make for that matter) 
was intended to be used in such a way that dynamically modifies its own 
scripts/rules while it works based on the very environment it changes.

   My choice would be to split this into two separate tools - one for 
checking out all the needed files, and another one for building.

   What still remains as an open issue here is whether to implement 
those two tools using Boost Build or some other scripting language and 
how to remove code duplication between them. My first idea is to prepare 
one Boost Build script assuming all files are already available and run 
that same script but with it just listing all the targets it wants to 
build and not actually building them to get the list of sources I would 
need to checkout. Someone else might have a better idea...

   Another idea would be to do something akin to what you are already 
doing and run your script once to do the necessary checkouts and then 
again to do the actual build.

   Hope this helps.

   Best regards,
     Jurko Gospodnetiæ