Re: [Boost-users] [general] boost 1.35.0 library naming and bjamarguments priorities

From: John Femiani (JOHN.FEMIANI_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-11 14:31:26

Volodya wrote:
> > There is a problem, because -lboost_xyz  links with the dll import 
> > library boost_xyz.lib instead of libboost_xyz.lib. Sure, there is a 
> > way around it, but it requires an extra change to build on 
> windows. It 
> > is a headache and I wish boost would compile the mingw 
> libraries with 
> > a .a extension.
> 
> Can you clarify what exact naming scheme you want? Say, what 
> should be the names for dynamic library, static library, and 
> import library for boost_xyz?
> 

I think everything would work if static libraries made with mingw and
kin used .a as the extension instead of .lib. 

For example:

boost_xyz.dll -- dynamic library
boost_xyz.lib -- import library
libboost_xyz.a -- static library

The mingw compiler seems to prefer libboost_xyz.a over boost_xyz.lib, so
it chooses the correct one.

> > It is particularly tricky to work around this one if you 
> use SCons as 
> > a build system, since it incorrectly tries to demangle the library 
> > names,
> > 
> > NOTE TO SCONS USERS:
> > Use LIBS=['liblibboost_xyz'] when linking with boost, since scons 
> > strips the first lib prefix.
> 
> Cool :-)

Yeah, but I wish scons did not strip the ixes by default.

> 
> > Another option would be if static libraries would not 
> include the 'lib'
> > prefix on windows so that the mingw linker did not get 
> confused. (This 
> > means the dll import library filenames would need different stems)
> 
> Hmm, I'm not sure I like this option.
> 

Well, the current convention uses the presence or absence of a prefix
that has another meaning to some tools.

Anyhow, I prefer the first option: rename lib<name>.lib to lib<name>.a

-- John