Re: [Boost-users] Getting started with Boost: what did you need to know?

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-01-30 17:31:34

Steve Byan <smb_at_[hidden]> writes:

> On Jan 30, 2006, at 11:17 AM, David Abrahams wrote:
>
>> What do you wish someone had
>> explained to you?
>
> It would be nice to update the installation documentation to point  
> out that at least the latest distribution includes bjam, so one  
> doesn't need to download it separately, 

If you mean the latest release of Boost, then it has always included
the bjam sources, but has never included a bjam executable.  I think
it's pretty clear from the docs that the sources for bjam are part of
the Boost release, isn't it?  The need to build a tool just to be able
to build boost was seen as anathema to many people (different
programming cultures have different needs), so the Getting Started
guide strongly encouraged downloading a prebuilt bjam executable.

If you're talking about some distribution of Boost packaged for
installation on, say, Debian or RedHat, then those are not prepared by
the Boost developers and historically we have taken no responsibility
for their contents.  That actually *ought* to be made clear in our
docs and we ought to coordinate with the maintainers of those distros
to make sure there are appropriate instructions for their users on our
website.  I'll definitely mention that in my talk.

> and that the config script in at least the latest distribution will
> build bjam and create makefiles which will invoke the built bjam
> executable to build and install Boost.

Doc patches are always welcome.  My improvements will probably come in
the form of an article.

I'll certainly mention in my talk that there's a configure script for
those who are comfortable with 

  ./configure && make && make install

Thanks for your feedback.
-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com