Yesterday, when I decided to start this, I went and downloaded John Torjo's Win32GUI library (www.torjo.com), and noticed that the build utility packaged with it, is very similar to what I originally had in mind. Like I said, I didn't conceive it as an installer, but rather as a tool to build and setup directories, all this while assuming the user would be willing to download and extract boost on his own. "David Abrahams" <dave@boost-consulting.com> wrote in message news:uoeay3md4.fsf@boost-consulting.com...
"Pablo Aguilar" <pablo.aguilar@gmail.com> writes:
[snip]
Don't know about configurations, though, maybe some simple parsing of the jamfiles would do..
Don't try to parse Jamfiles. It will be fragile at best and a disaster at worst. Think of Jamfile contents like C++ source code; you want a real C++ compiler in order to process that and make any sense of it. For Jamfiles you want to do any understanding within Boost.Build.
Ok, I won't argue, as not parsing them would make my life a whole lot easier. I do suggest you take a look at John Torjo's utility though, if I got it correctly, it doesn't parse the .jam files but rather just adds the requested threading/linkage/debug options to the bjam command line.
The reason I chose not to do it as an installer, is because I'm far more comfortable with developing GUIs with say, BCB, than I am with the installer programs I've tried.
Comments, suggestions, requests are welcome.
Making Boost easier to install is crucial. I suggest that parties interested in contributing in some way take the thread to the jamboost list.
http://www.boost.org/more/mailing_lists.htm#jamboost
If people prefer we could establish a separate list, but I fear there might be a great deal of overlap.
-- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com
Thanks for your comments Pablo Aguilar