[Boost-build] Problem with notfile target

Subject: [Boost-build] Problem with notfile target
From: Ian Emmons (iemmons_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-28 22:59:47

I am new to bjam, and I'm sure that the problem I'm having is a simple  
thing, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.  I'm using bjam  
3.1.16 (the pre-built binary) on MacOS 10.5.5.

I am trying to build a C++ library that uses JNI to communicate with a  
Java program.  This means that before I build the C++ code I must  
first build some Java code and then run the javah tool to generate  
some C header files that are included by my C++ code.  I have  
implemented an ant build script to do the javac and javah steps, and I  
want to call that from my jam file.  Here is my jam file:

import notfile ;

project /KB/KbCore ;

lib Parliament
        :	[ glob *.cpp : Utf8StaticInitGen.cpp ]
                /site-config//BerkeleyDB
                /site-config//JavaJNI
                JniHeaders
        :	<include>.
                <define>BUILDING_KBCORE
                <define>PARLIAMENT_RSRC_AS_UTF16
                <define>_REENTRANT
                <threading>multi
        :	# default build
        :	<include>. ;

notfile JniHeaders : @BuildJniHeaders ;
actions BuildJniHeaders
{
        ant jniHeaders
}

If I comment out the source dependency of the library target on the  
JniHeaders target, then this works perfectly, except that the two  
targets run in the wrong order.  But with the source dependency as  
above, I get the following error:

/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/generators.jam:951: in ensure- 
type from module generators
error: target { Jamfile</Users/iemmons/dev/KB/Parliament/KbCore> 
%Jamfile</Users/iemmons/dev/KB/Parliament/KbCore>.BuildJniHeaders- 
JniHeaders. } has no type
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/generators.jam:1166: in  
generators.construct from module generators
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/targets.jam:1408: in construct  
from module object(typed-target)@54
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/targets.jam:1252: in object(typed- 
target)@54.generate from module object(typed-target)@54
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/targets.jam:765: in generate- 
really from module object(main-target)@61
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/targets.jam:738: in object(main- 
target)@61.generate from module object(main-target)@61
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build/targets.jam:255: in  
object(project-target)@50.generate from module object(project-target)@50
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/build-system.jam:414: in load from  
module build-system
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/kernel/modules.jam:261: in import from  
module modules
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/kernel/bootstrap.jam:132: in boost- 
build from module
/Users/iemmons/bin/boost-build/boost-build.jam:1: in module scope from  
module

This is puzzling to me, because it seems that the definition of  
JniHeaders as a "notfile" target should tell boost build that  
JniHeaders has no type.  Any ideas about what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,

Ian