Re: [Boost-users] [program_options] Issues with boost::program_options freezing

From: Vladimir Prus (ghost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-08-05 15:07:38

Zachary Mark <zmark <at> cleversafe.com> writes:

> 
> Hello,
> 
> Our application is using boost::program_options to parse commandline 
> arguments.  We have found that when we perform our own builds of boost 
> from source code, program_options freezes the application hard at 
> variable points in the code (a step through in GDB confirms this).  
> However, when we use pre-built binaries of the program_options library 
> for any of our target OSes (Debian stable, Centos 4, Fedora 4) the 
> application runs properly.
> 
> We are also using the boost::thread library.  Are there thread safety or 
> interaction issues between thread and program_options that I am not 
> aware of?  We are using 1.32 due a change in the behavior of 
> program_options in 1.33.  This script shows how we are building boost.

You did not indicate where the library hangs (i.e. did  not provide a complete 
backtrace). If it's in some threading-related function, it means that you're 
using wrong version of the library. If you application is multi-threaded, you 
must link to MT build of program_options. One important aspect of this is that 
MT mode changes layout of shared_ptr, which is used in program_options public 
interface, so mismatch in MT mode between the library and the program causes 
sure problems.

> 
> # run configure
> 
> cd libs/config || fail-configure
> chmod +x configure || fail "error: could not change permissions on 
> ${PACKAGE} configure script"
> ./configure || fail-configure
> cp user.hpp ../../boost/config/
> 
> cd ../..
> 
> # build and install libraries
> 
> BOOST_LIBS="date_time filesystem program_options regex thread"
> 
> for LIB in ${BOOST_LIBS}; do
>   echo "Building library ${LIB}..."
>   bjam -sTOOLS=gcc -sBUILD="release threading=multi" --with-${LIB} \
>      --layout="system" stage 2>&1 || \
>      fail "error: could not build boost library ${LIB}"
>   bjam -sTOOLS=gcc -sBUILD="release threading=multi" --with-${LIB} 
> --layout="system" \
>       --prefix=`pwd`/../../${INSTALL_DIR} install 2>&1 || \
>      fail "error: could not install boost library ${LIB}"
> done
> 
> Thanks in advance.

Well, this looks reasonable. Do you build your own application in such a way 
that Boost things its multi-threaded?

- Volodya