Boost C++ Libraries

...one of the most highly regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the world. Herb Sutter and Andrei Alexandrescu, C++ Coding Standards

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Building BJam

Installing BJam after building it is simply a matter of copying the generated executables someplace in your PATH. For building the executables there are a set of build bootstrap scripts to accomodate particular environments. The scripts take one optional argument, the name of the toolset to build with. When the toolset is not given an attempt is made to detect an available toolset and use that. The build scripts accept these arguments:

build [toolset]

Running the scripts without arguments will give you the best chance of success. On Windows platforms from a command console do:

cd jam source location
.\build.bat

On Unix type platforms do:

cd jam source location
sh ./build.sh

For the Boost.Jam source included with the Boost distribution the jam source location is BOOST_ROOT/tools/jam/src.

If the scripts fail to detect an appropriate toolset to build with your particular toolset may not be auto-detectable. In that case, you can specify the toolset as the first argument, this assumes that the toolset is readily available in the PATH.

[Note] Note

The toolset used to build Boost.Jam is independent of the toolsets used for Boost.Build. Only one version of Boost.Jam is needed to use Boost.Build.

The supported toolsets, and wether they are auto-detected, are:

Supported Toolsets

Script Platform Toolset Detection
build.bat Windows NT, 2000, and XP  borland
Borland C++Builder (BCC 5.5)
* Common install location: "C:\Borland\BCC55"
* BCC32.EXE in PATH
     como
Comeau Computing C/C++
     gcc
GNU GCC
     gcc-nocygwin
GNU GCC
     intel-win32
Intel C++ Compiler for Windows
* ICL.EXE in PATH
     metrowerks
MetroWerks CodeWarrior C/C++ 7.x, 8.x, 9.x
* CWFolder variable configured * MWCC.EXE in PATH
     mingw
GNU GCC as the MinGW configuration
* Common install location: "C:\MinGW"
     msvc
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.x
* VCVARS32.BAT already configured
* %MSVCDir% is present in environment
* Common install locations: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio", "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual C++"
* CL.EXE in PATH
* VCVARS32.BAT in PATH
     vc7
Microsoft Visual C++ 7.x
* VCVARS32.BAT or VSVARS32.BAT already configured * %VS71COMNTOOLS% is present in environment
* %VCINSTALLDIR% is present in environment
* Common install locations: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET", "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003"
* CL.EXE in PATH
* VCVARS32.BAT in PATH
     vc8
Microsoft Visual C++ 8.x
* VCVARS32.BAT or VSVARS32.BAT already configured
* %VS80COMNTOOLS% is present in environment
* Common install location: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8"
* CL.EXE in PATH
* VCVARS32.BAT in PATH
build.sh Unix, Linux, Cygwin, etc.  acc
HP-UX aCC
* aCC in PATH
* uname is "HP-UX"
     como
Comeau Computing C/C++
* como in PATH
     gcc
GNU GCC
* gcc in PATH
     intel-linux
Intel C++ for Linux
* icc in PATH
* Common install locations: "/opt/intel/cc/9.0", "/opt/intel_cc_80", "/opt/intel/compiler70", "/opt/intel/compiler60", "/opt/intel/compiler50"
     kcc
Intel KAI C++
* KCC in PATH
     kylix
Borland C++Builder
* bc++ in PATH
     mipspro
SGI MIPSpro C
* uname is "IRIX" or "IRIX64"
     sunpro
Sun Workshop 6 C++
* Standard install location: "/opt/SUNWspro"
     qcc
QNX Neutrino
* uname is "QNX" and qcc in PATH
     true64cxx
Compaq C++ Compiler for True64 UNIX
* uname is "OSF1"
     vacpp
IBM VisualAge C++
* xlc in PATH
  MacOS X  darwin
Apple MacOS X GCC
* uname is "Darwin"
  Windows NT, 2000, and XP  mingw
GNU GCC as the MinGW configuration with the MSYS shell
* Common install location: "/mingw"

The built executables are placed in a subdirectory specific to your platform. For example, in Linux running on an Intel x86 compatible chip, the executables are placed in: "bin.linuxx86". The bjam[.exe] executable can be used to invoke Boost.Build.

The build scripts support additional invocation arguments for use by developers of Boost.Jam. The extra arguments come after the toolset, and can take the form of "--option" or targets for the build.jam script:

build [toolset] [--option+ target*]

There is currently only one available option, "--debug", which builds debugging versions of the executable. When built they are placed in their own directory "bin./platform/.debug". To specify targets without options, one can suply a special ignore option "---".

Currently there are two targets supported: dist, and clean. Respectively they: generate packages (compressed archives) as appropriate for distribution in the platform, or remove all the built executables and objects.

Copyright © 2003-2006 Rene Rivera, David Abrahams, Vladimir Prus

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