Re: [Boost-build] Scope for bjam use outside of C/C++?

Subject: Re: [Boost-build] Scope for bjam use outside of C/C++?
From: Belcourt, Kenneth (kbelco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-03-23 12:42:18

On Mar 23, 2010, at 1:07 AM, Vladimir Prus wrote:

> On Monday 22 March 2010 15:17:55 Mitchell Bradd wrote:
>
>> I have been a follower of the mailing list for a short while and  
>> noticed the
>> nicely written tutorial that explained the workings of boost-build  
>> to the
>> uninitiated. It mentioned use for C/C++ only; is it the case that  
>> bjam is
>> reasonably restricted to this language? I have had a crack at  
>> making a
>> toolset for the D Compiler with some success; I can't give it the  
>> big thumbs
>> up because 1. I don't have a large project and 2. I can't seem to  
>> get the
>> tests to work that exist for new toolset validation (probably  
>> because it's
>> not C/C++?).
>>
>> Interested to hear thoughts on this, boost itself is admittedly a C/ 
>> C++
>> library/framework but I was wondering if this means that  
>> introducing new
>> toolset support outside of the C/C++ Compiler scope is therefore  
>> not on the
>> cards.
>
> while most uses of Boost.Build are for C and C++, there's nothing  
> fundamentally
> preventing its use for other "more or less compiled" languages. What  
> I mean is
> that for example Java is tricky language in that compiling a  
> single .java
> file creates a random set of .class files and it's not easy to know  
> what
> set that is without being a compiler. Languages that are not that  
> tricky
> should post no problem -- and D, in particular, should pose no  
> problem.

Hi Mitch,

Not to encourage people to develop in Fortran but we've successfully  
used Boost.Build to build Fortran/Fortran90/C/C++ applications without  
too much effort.  Fortran90 modules were the biggest hassle by far  
(and getting the scanner regex to find modules in the source took some  
doing as well).  We've found BB to be quite satisfactory in most  
respects.

-- Noel