Building Boost for Mingw

[Chris_F]

I was hoping somebody could help me, because I'm having a heck of a time. I've recently become more involved with cross-platform programming, so I have switch from MSVC to Mingw so I can use the same compiler in Windows as I do Linux (gcc 4.5.2).

My problem is that Mingw doesn't search for includes and libs in the right directories by default. I either have to use an IDE or manually specify with -IC:\MinGW\include\ flags from the command line. However, when I try to execute bjam, there is no way to tell it where to search for these files (that I know of) so bjam fails to compile anything.

Help would be appreciated.

[nuzzle]

Help would be appreciated.

Maybe you don't have to build Boost. Most libraries are headers only.

[Chris_F]

Maybe you don't have to build Boost. Most libraries are headers only.

I'm mostly interested in boost::thread.

[laserlight]

My problem is that Mingw doesn't search for includes and libs in the right directories by default. I either have to use an IDE or manually specify with -IC:\MinGW\include\ flags from the command line.

That's weird. I mean, yes, you have to specify include directories if they are not in the compiler's include directory, but if they are, it should be found by default.

[nuzzle]

I'm mostly interested in boost::thread.

Well, it needs building but note that there will be multithreading in the upcoming C++ standard and most compilers have introduced parts of it so maybe <thread> is available in gcc already.

[Chris_F]

Well, it needs building but note that there will be multithreading in the upcoming C++ standard and most compilers have introduced parts of it so maybe <thread> is available in gcc already.

Again, a problem with Mingw. I have tested std::thread in GCC and think it works great, but for some reason I can't get it to work in Mingw. I have a feeling it's not supported yet.

[laserlight]

What is the version of the MinGW port of g++ that you are using?

[Chris_F]

what is the version of the mingw port of g++ that you are using?

4.5.2

[Chris_F]

Here is GCC's output on where it searches:

install: 
C:\MinGW\lib\mingw32/4.5.2/

programs:
c:/mingw/lib/../../libexec/gcc/mingw32/4.5.2/;
c:/mingw/lib/../../libexec/gcc/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../../mingw32/bin/mingw32/4.5.2/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../../mingw32/bin/

libraries:
C:/MinGW/lib/mingw32/4.5.2/;
C:/MinGW/lib/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../../mingw32/lib/mingw32/4.5.2/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../../mingw32/lib/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../mingw32/4.5.2/;
C:/MinGW/lib/../;
/mingw/lib/mingw32/4.5.2/;
/mingw/lib/

and it's all wrong, and the reason I'm having all my problems. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

[aamir121a]

for cross paltform dev you can't go wrong with with QT , comes with mingw , works great with boot , just decompress all header to include of mingw , as C:/QT/MingW/include , and the buildin IDE will pick it up straight away. you can grab a free one form here ,
http://qt.nokia.com/downloads

[Xupicor]

Also you can download Nuwen's MinGW distro which contains GCC 4.5.2 and Boost 1.45.0
http://nuwen.net/mingw.html
If you're having trouble building it... Feel free to ignore this comment if it's not what you want.