How do I troubleshoot boost library/header inclusion via autoconf/automake?

Question

I'm new to autom4te, and I'm trying to use autoconf/automake to build and link a C++ program on multiple architectures. Complicating the linking is the fact that the project requires boost (filesystem, system, program_options).

I'm using boost.m4 (from http://github.com/tsuna/boost.m4/tree/), and it seems to locate all the libraries and headers successfully.

Unfortunately, linking still fails, leaving me confused.

These are the relevant lines of configure.ac:

AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
# ...
AC_PROG_CXX
AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
# ...
BOOST_REQUIRE([1.41.0])
BOOST_FILESYSTEM
BOOST_SYSTEM
BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS
# ...

And in src/Makefile.am:

bin_PROGRAMS = phenomatrix
phenomatrix_CXXFLAGS = $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS)
phenomatrix_LDFLAGS = $(BOOST_LDFLAGS) $(BOOST_SYSTEM_LDFLAGS) $(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LDFLAGS) $(BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LDFLAGS) # $(BOOST_SYSTEM_LIB) $(BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIB) $(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LIB)
phenomatrix_LIBS = $(BOOST_SYSTEM_LIBS) $(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LIBS) $(BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIBS)
phenomatrix_SOURCES = adjacency_list.cpp distance.cpp genephene.cpp knearest.cpp marshall.cpp oracle.cpp type_shield.cpp avgmindist.cpp euclidean.cpp hypergeometric.cpp main.cpp mindist.cpp partialbayes.cpp utilities.cpp

These give no errors, and it even manages to find the libraries and headers:

checking for Boost headers version >= 104100... yes
checking for Boost's header version... 1_41
checking for the toolset name used by Boost for g++... gcc44 -gcc
checking boost/system/error_code.hpp usability... yes
checking boost/system/error_code.hpp presence... yes
checking for boost/system/error_code.hpp... yes
checking for the Boost system library... yes
checking boost/filesystem/path.hpp usability... yes
checking boost/filesystem/path.hpp presence... yes
checking for boost/filesystem/path.hpp... yes
checking for the Boost filesystem library... yes
checking for boost/system/error_code.hpp... (cached) yes
checking for the Boost system library... (cached) yes
checking boost/program_options.hpp usability... yes
checking boost/program_options.hpp presence... yes
checking for boost/program_options.hpp... yes
checking for the Boost program_options library... yes

But then, when I run make, I get errors:

libtool: link: g++ -g -O2 -o phenomatrix phenomatrix-adjacency_list.o phenomatrix-distance.o phenomatrix-genephene.o phenomatrix-knearest.o phenomatrix-marshall.o phenomatrix-oracle.o phenomatrix-type_shield.o phenomatrix-avgmindist.o phenomatrix-euclidean.o phenomatrix-hypergeometric.o phenomatrix-main.o phenomatrix-mindist.o phenomatrix-partialbayes.o phenomatrix-utilities.o  -L/usr/local/lib -Wl,-rpath -Wl,/usr/local/lib
phenomatrix-adjacency_list.o: In function `__static_initialization_and_destruction_0':
/usr/local/include/boost/system/error_code.hpp:208: undefined reference to `boost::system::get_system_category()'
/usr/local/include/boost/system/error_code.hpp:209: undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()'
/usr/local/include/boost/system/error_code.hpp:214: undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()'
/usr/local/include/boost/system/error_code.hpp:215: undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()'
/usr/local/include/boost/system/error_code.hpp:216: undefined reference to `boost::system::get_system_category()'

which repeat ad nauseum.

I'm not even sure how to go about testing to see if it's including the right directories. Yes, I understand that there's a -t flag on g++, but I don't exactly know how to pass that (from within autom4te).

I gather this has something to do with multiple versions of the boost libs and headers on the same machine, and there's not much I can do about that.

Answer 1

It does not compile because it the library are not properly set... The script does not configure correctly the -lboost_libraryname option.

$(BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIB) -> $(BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIBS) in tyour makefil.am your_program_LDFLAGS

The ax_boost_***.m4 script in the the following repository worked fine with me:

• Script listing (http://www.nongnu.org/autoconf-archive/The-Macros.html#The-Macros)

Answer 2

Not an answer to your question, but have you considered to switch from the GNU toolchain to cmake ? I did that some time before and now I know perfectly well that I'll never be using that autohell again.