Cannot find `BoostRoot.cmake` when using CMake to compile source codes.

[hwhsu1231]

Descriptions

I tried to use CMake to compile the source codes. However, it failed with the following errors:

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:20 (include):
  include could not find requested file:

    BoostRoot


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

Therefore, I went to check the project folder, but didn't find BoostRoot.cmake.

Besides, I found that all of folders inside the tools folder are EMPTY, too.

What happened? What do I miss?

Steps of Installation

Click to expand

1. Download and unzip the source code.

   boost-1.79.0.zip

2. Open Windows Terminal (cmd.exe) and change to the project folder.

   cd boost-1.79.0
   

3. call vcvarsall.bat x64 to preload the MSVC environment.

   vcvarsall x64
   

4. Create the build folder and change into it.

   md build-msvc16-x64
   cd build-msvc16-x64
   

5. Configure the project with the generator Ninja Multi-Config.

   cmake ../cmake -G"Ninja Multi-Config"
   

Logs

Click to expand

C:\ccxxpkgs\source\boost-1.79.0>md build-msvc16-x64

C:\ccxxpkgs\source\boost-1.79.0>cd build-msvc16-x64

C:\ccxxpkgs\source\boost-1.79.0\build-msvc16-x64>vcvarsall x64
**********************************************************************
** Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt v16.11.16
** Copyright (c) 2021 Microsoft Corporation
**********************************************************************
[vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x64'

C:\ccxxpkgs\source\boost-1.79.0\build-msvc16-x64>cmake .. -G"Ninja Multi-Config"
-- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30145.0
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:20 (include):
  include could not find requested file:

    BoostRoot


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/ccxxpkgs/source/boost-1.79.0/build-msvc16-x64/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".

Screenshots

[pdimov]

Your step 1 only downloads the "boostorg/boost" repository, but not its submodules. You have to use git clone -b boost-1.79.0 --recurse-submodules https://github.com/boostorg/boost instead.

In addition, step 5 needs to be cmake .. instead of cmake ../cmake.

[hwhsu1231]

@pdimov

I followed what you said to git clone the repository, and then use CMake to compile the source code. It WORKED.

Steps of Installation

Click to expand

1. git clone the source code.

   git clone -b boost-1.79.0 --recurse-submodules https://github.com/boostorg/boost
   

2. Open Windows Terminal (cmd.exe) and change to the project folder.

   cd boost
   

3. call vcvarsall.bat x64 to preload the MSVC environment.

   vcvarsall x64
   

4. Create the build folder and change into it.

   md build-msvc16-x64
   cd build-msvc16-x64
   

5. Configure the project with the generator Ninja Multi-Config.

   cmake .. -G"Ninja Multi-Config"
   

6. Open cmake-gui to edit some Cache Variables. After editing, press Configure and Generate buttons. Then, close it.

   cmake-gui .
   
   BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
   CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:/ccxxpkgs/install/msvc16-x64/boost-1.79.0
   

7. Build the project with Debug and Release configurations.

   cmake --build . --config Debug
   cmake --build . --config Release
   

8. Install the project with Debug and Release configurations.

   cmake --install . --config Debug
   cmake --install . --config Release
   

How to find_package() in CONFIG mode?

However, how do I use it with find_package() command in CONFIG mode?

The followings are my example code of CMakeLists.txt and the error messages:

• CMakeLists.txt

  Click to expand

  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
  get_filename_component(folder_name "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}" NAME)
  project(${folder_name} LANGUAGES C CXX)
  
  list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "C:/ccxxpkgs/install")
  list(APPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH "C:/ccxxpkgs/install")
  
  find_package(boost 1.79.0 CONFIG REQUIRED
    COMPONENTS filesystem regex asio
  )

• Logs of configuring CMake project

  Click to expand

  [proc] Executing command: "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.EXE" --no-warn-unused-cli -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS:BOOL=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:STRING=d:/Code-Cpp-MyFavorite/Code-Research-CMake-ThirdParty/cmake-find_package-boost/install -Sd:/Code-Cpp-MyFavorite/Code-Research-CMake-ThirdParty/cmake-find_package-boost -Bd:/Code-Cpp-MyFavorite/Code-Research-CMake-ThirdParty/cmake-find_package-boost/build/win32-MSVC-x64-Debug -G Ninja
  [cmake] Not searching for unused variables given on the command line.
  [cmake] -- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30145.0
  [cmake] -- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30145.0
  [cmake] -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
  [cmake] -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
  [cmake] -- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped
  [cmake] -- Detecting C compile features
  [cmake] -- Detecting C compile features - done
  [cmake] -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
  [cmake] -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
  [cmake] -- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped
  [cmake] -- Detecting CXX compile features
  [cmake] -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
  [cmake] CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:8 (find_package):
  [cmake]   Could not find a package configuration file provided by "boost" (requested
  [cmake]   version 1.79.0) with any of the following names:
  [cmake] 
  [cmake]     boostConfig.cmake
  [cmake]     boost-config.cmake
  [cmake] 
  [cmake]   Add the installation prefix of "boost" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
  [cmake]   "boost_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files.  If "boost"
  [cmake]   provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has been
  [cmake]   installed.
  [cmake] 
  [cmake] 
  [cmake] -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
  [cmake] See also "D:/Code-Cpp-MyFavorite/Code-Research-CMake-ThirdParty/cmake-find_package-boost/build/win32-MSVC-x64-Debug/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
  

My opinions

I think the reason why find_package() failed is because there didn't exist the boost-config.cmake file.

Take Qt for reference. There is a C:/Qt/6.3.1/msvc2019_64/lib/cmake/Qt6/Qt6Config.cmake. Therefore, we can use it with:

find_package(Qt6 CONFIG REQUIRED
  COMPONENTS Core Widget Gui
)

[pdimov]

Our CMake build does not have a master BoostConfig, so instead of find_package(Boost 1.79.0 CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem regex asio) you will need

find_package(boost_filesystem 1.79.0 CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(boost_regex 1.79.0 CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(boost_asio 1.79.0 CONFIG REQUIRED)

We may add support for find_package(Boost) at some later date.

[hwhsu1231]

@pdimov

Moreover, after downloading and unzipping the boost_1_79_0.zip provided in the Download page, I found that there doesn't exist CMakeLists.txt in the root directory. Does Boost official miss it?

Screenshots

[hwhsu1231]

We may add support for find_package(Boost) at some later date.

I hope this feature supported as soon as possible.

[pdimov]

The Boost release archive has a slightly different layout - all headers from libs/<libname>/include/boost/ are moved into boost/ and deleted from their original location - so the CMake build doesn't support it, which is why we remove CMakeLists.txt from the release archive in order to not mislead people that it works.

[hwhsu1231]

Why not use the same layout?

For me, I prefer to download the zipped source codes of the specific version. Therefore, I hope that Boost can be compiled with CMake and be used with find_package() in CONFIG mode, instead of MODULE mode.

[pdimov]

We now provide CMake-compatible archives on Github: https://github.com/boostorg/boost/releases. Release 1.81 does not support find_package(Boost) yet, but 1.82 will.

[felixfeixu]

just for information:

BoostRoot.cmake is in folder of tools/cmake, after git submodule is initialized.