Re: [Boost-build] Questions from a new user

Subject: Re: [Boost-build] Questions from a new user
From: Rene Rivera (grafikrobot_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-09-04 17:03:16

On Sun, Sep 3, 2017 at 11:18 PM, JP Cimalando via Boost-build <
boost-build_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> Hi,
> I am a new user attempting a transition from CMake to Boost.Build,
> and I want to ask some questions to which I couldn't find answers in
> the manual.
>

First, welcome to B2 :-)

Second, are you getting B2 from the develop branch, or some place else?

> Since switching I appreciate how this new build system is more rigorous
> and how it offers a better freedom.
>

Can I quote you on that? For publicity that is. I'm keeping track of such
quotes for future use on the web site.

1. Cross-compilation.
> Let's say I defined some toolsets in the project configuration.
> using gcc : host : g++ : $(gcc_colors) ;
> using gcc : mingw32 : i686-w64-mingw32-g++ : $(gcc_colors) ;
>

For gcc I usually leave the "version" arg, i.e. the second one, blank as
the gcc toolset can interrogate the version directly.

This allows me to build with either command "b2 toolset=gcc-host" or
> "b2 toolset=gcc-mingw32 target-os=windows". However...
>
> The first configuration incorrectly defines the build dir as
> "bin/gcc-mingw-gnu-host". If I comment the second toolset, the build
> dir goes back to normal "bin/gcc-gnu-host". As curious as this is, it
> still seems to produce a correct build.
>
> So what is this, a benign anomaly?

That's definitely an anomaly. We should find out why it's doing that and
fix it. Question

do I do things the incorrect way?
>

Depends on what your goals are. It looks "correct". But perhaps not ideal.
If it's cross-building choice that you are after.. I prefer adding a
condition to configuration that selects the particular gcc based on the
target-os feature [1]. You can do this (with the current develop branch of
gcc) as such:

# Regular host-os is target-os compiler..
using gcc ;
# Cross compiler..
using gcc : : i686-w64-mingw32-g++ : : <target-os>windows ;

And doing "b2 toolset=gcc target-os=windows" should pick up the second one.
If you only have gcc, you can even leave out the "toolset=gcc" argument.

> Am I supposed to edit project-config.jam whenever I want to use the
> other toolset?
>

Definitely not.

2. I want my build to generate some sources using tools which are also
> built as part of the project. These tools should be generated using the
> host compiler to support cross compiling.
> I solve this by making two separate projects, but is there a way to
> integrate the two in a single build and make them properly dependent?
>
> This is an example of what it looks like.
>
> # Jamroot.jam
> path-constant MY_TOOL : "tools/dist/my-tool" ;
> actions my-tool {
>   $(MY_TOOL) $(>) > $(<)
> }
>
> # tools/Jamroot.jam
> exe my-tool : "my-tool.cc" ;
> install tools : my-tool : <location>"dist" ;
>

I don't have a concrete answer for you on this one. As this is not
something I've done myself.

> 3. Is there already some facility to substitute text in *.in files, in
> the same fashion as GNU's AC_SUBST or CMake's configure_file?
>

Nothing built-in AFAIK. You could use a "make" target to run whatever you
want though. But I'd be interesting in adding a tool to do this if
something appropriate was multi-platform available. It could theoretically
be done with the built-in regex search/replace. But that would take some
thinking as to what the use case is more carefully.

[1] I also notice that the docs current suggest using the version argument
for the cross-compile case. I should amend that for the better way.

-- 
-- Rene Rivera
-- Grafik - Don't Assume Anything
-- Robot Dreams - http://robot-dreams.net
-- rrivera/acm.org (msn) - grafikrobot/aim,yahoo,skype,efnet,gmail