Hey all, A few days ago I got around to updating an embedded Linux image (cross-compiled with openembedded[1]). Unfortunately, I soon hit a some realized that the latest Boost version in OpenEmbedded is 1.41. I initially thought it was quite strange that such a well-used library could be so out-of-date and thought I might try my hand at getting 1.45 running. I quickly found that the reason OE's package is so old is because they are using the Boost CMake fork, which hasn't been updated for some time. At first I found it strange that the packagers would use an alternative build system like this, but this is before I met bJam. Unfortunately, bJam has made what should have been a straightforward version bump one of the most unpleasant packaging experiences I have ever had. After much pain, I finally have a user-config.jam[2] capable of starting the build, but it quickly fails with a variety of compile errors. The first is related to icu, the test program for which fails during linking, gcc.link bin.v2/libs/regex/build/gcc-target/debug/has_icu bin.v2/libs/regex/build/gcc-target/debug/has_icu_test.o: In function `main': /home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/work/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/boost-1.45.0-r9.1/boost_1_45_0/libs/regex/bu ild/has_icu_test.cpp:24: undefined reference to `u_charFromName_4_2' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status "arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-g++" "-march=armv7-a" "-mtune=cortex-a8" "-mfpu=neon" "-mfloat-abi=softfp" "- L/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-rpath-link,/home/bgamari/O E/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-O1" "-Wl,--hash-style=gnu" "-mthumb-interw ork" "-mno-thumb" -L"/usr/lib" -Wl,-R -Wl,"/usr/bin" -Wl,-R -Wl,"/usr/lib" -Wl,-rpath-link -Wl,"/usr/lib" -o "b in.v2/libs/regex/build/gcc-target/debug/has_icu" -Wl,--start-group "bin.v2/libs/regex/build/gcc-target/debug/ha s_icu_test.o" -Wl,-Bstatic -Wl,-Bdynamic -licuuc -licui18n -licudata -Wl,--end-group -g -L/home/bgamari/OE/an gstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib This appears to due to the build having used the icu 4.2 headers from /usr which is given as --includedir (which should be the install directory, according to the documentation) yet for is for some reason added to the include path list, "arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-g++" "-march=armv7-a" "-mtune=cortex-a8" "-mfpu=neon" "-mfloat-abi=softfp" "-L/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-a ngstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-rpath-link,/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-O1" "-Wl,--hash-style=gnu" "-mthumb-interwork" "-mno-thumb" -ftemplate-depth-128 -isystem/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include -O0 -fno-inline -Wall -pedantic -g -fPIC -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_HAS_ICU=1 -I"." -I"/usr/include" -c -o "bin.v2/libs/regex/build/gcc-target/debug/has_icu_test.o" "libs /regex/build/has_icu_test.cpp" This causes the system's icu headers to override the cross-compile environment's, wrecking havoc when it comes to link time. Does anyone know why bJam is doing this? The second pertains to Python. I have specified a python configuration listing the correct include and library paths in my user-config.jam yet it appears that bjam ignores it "arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-g++" "-march=armv7-a" "-mtune=cortex-a8" "-mfpu=neon" "-mfloat-abi=softfp" "- L/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-rpath-link,/home/bgamari/O E/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib" "-Wl,-O1" "-Wl,--hash-style=gnu" "-mthumb-interw ork" "-mno-thumb" -ftemplate-depth-128 -isystem/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gn ueabi/usr/include -O3 -finline-functions -Wno-inline -Wall -pthread -fPIC -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_PYTHON_ SOURCE -DNDEBUG -I"." -c -o "bin.v2/libs/python/build/gcc-target/release/threading-multi/numeric.o" "libs/pyth on/src/numeric.cpp" ...failed gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/python/build/gcc-target/release/threading-multi/numeric.o... gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/math/build/gcc-target/release/threading-multi/sph_neumannf.o gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/python/build/gcc-target/release/threading-multi/list.o In file included from ./boost/python/detail/prefix.hpp:13:0, from ./boost/python/list.hpp:8, from libs/python/src/list.cpp:5: ./boost/python/detail/wrap_python.hpp:50:23: fatal error: pyconfig.h: No such file or directory compilation terminated. As indicated in the documentation, I have tried passing target-os=linux/python=2.6 to bjam but this does not appear to change bjam's behavior at all. When the build process begins, bjam produces this cryptic hint, error: No best alternative for /python_for_extensions next alternative: required properties: <python>2.6 <target-os>linux matched next alternative: required properties: <python>2.6 <target-os>linux matched error: No best alternative for /python_for_extensions next alternative: required properties: <python>2.6 <target-os>linux matched next alternative: required properties: <python>2.6 <target-os>linux matched Does anyone know what might be going on here? I seriously hope that the Boost project will consider dropping this seriously deficient, clunky, and user-unfriendly build system. When it works people will largely overlook its flaws, but most everyone I've heard who have actually worked with it seem to agree: stay away at all costs. I now completely understand why OpenEmbedded used the CMake fork. Cheers, - Ben [1] http://www.openembedded.org/ [2] user-config.jam using gcc : host : : <cxxflags> <linkflags> ; using gcc : target : arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-g++ -march=armv7-a -mtune=cortex-a8 -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=soft fp -L/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib -Wl,-rpath-link,/home/bgamar i/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--hash-style=gnu -mthumb-interwork -mno-thumb : <cxxflags>-isystem/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/includ e -fexpensive-optimizations -frename-registers -fomit-frame-pointer -O2 -ggdb2 -isystem/home/bgamari/OE/angstro m-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include -fexpensive-optimizations -frename-registers -fomit-fr ame-pointer -O2 -ggdb2 -fpermissive -fvisibility-inlines-hidden <linkflags>-L/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysr oots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib -Wl,-rpath-link,/home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstr om-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--hash-style=gnu ; using python : 2.6 : python2.6 : /home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6 : /home/bgamari/OE/angstrom-dev/sysroots/armv7a-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/lib ;