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boost-cmake

An attempt to move on with boost+cmake

This repository should be checked out in <boost-root>/tools/boost-cmake, and the CMakeLists.txt contained there be copied to the <boost-root> folder. Summary of actions for getting started:

cd <boost_root>/tools
git clone https://github.com/raffienficiaud/boost-cmake.git
cd -
cp <boost_root>/tools/boost-cmake/CMakeLists.txt .
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..

How it works

  • each library or tool of Boost is called a package
  • each package describes its components and, for each component, their dependencies
  • those descriptions are read by the super project CMakeLists.txt
  • the libraries and components are then included in the main project, in the topological order of their dependencies

Declaring components and dependencies

The description of the package, components and their dependencies is made via a tiny text file, boost-decl.cmake that is in a CMake format.

To integrate a library:

  • in this repository, create a folder libs/<lib>
  • a file in libs/<lib>/build/boost-decl.cmake that indicates the components and their dependencies wrt. other package and components. Take a look at the existing boost-decl.cmake in this repo for the expected format.
  • add a CMakeLists.txt in each of the libs/<lib>/<component>, where the <components> are taken from the boost-decl.cmake file above

The current superproject CMakeLists.txt copies those CMakeLists.txt and boost-decl.cmake to their corresponding folders in the target libraries of Boost, prior to running anything else.

Ported libraries

Those are meant to show some functional and real-case examples for porting to cmake:

  • all header only libraries of boost
  • boost.system
  • boost.test
  • boost.filesystem
  • boost.program_options
  • boost.quickbook

Features

(in random order)

  • handles order of declaration of targets, inter dependencies
  • there is never direct inclusion from one CMakeLists.txt to another one
  • the libraries, their documentation and the corresponding tests are decoupled, as the current b2 system is doing. This should allow for easier redistribution (discarding the packaging of doc and tests, the main build/CMakeLists.txt staying standalone)
  • each CMakeLists.txt makes no assumption of an existing super project: they are written without the help of any external function or CMake package. This is again to ease modularity and redistribution
  • only the two variables ${BOOST_CURRENT_PACKAGE} and ${BOOST_CURRENT_COMPONENT} are defined when a CMakeLists.txt is included. This is mostly for creating a convenient ALIAS target (for eg. naming convention) or to render things nicely in an IDE
  • libraries not having a boost-decl.cmake / CMakeLists.txt are considered as header only and automatically added to the super project, which lowers the development/porting
  • libraries having a boost-decl.cmake but not having a CMakeLists.txt are considered header only, and their dependencies are properly declared such that their dependencies are propagated properly to their dependant/child projects.
  • the dependencies between the libraries are explicit, which is a good thing
  • there is no need for copying header files around: the files stay in their original library/submodule/location and their location is propagated to dependent project

CMake options

Those are high level options passed to cmake. For example, to have all files for header only libraries, directly in your IDE:

# same prelude as above
cmake -G <your generator> -DBOOST_CREATE_VISIBLE_HEADER_ONLY=ON

Available options

  • BOOST_WITH_COMPONENT: restricts the global project to this set of coma separated components, and the union of all their parent dependencies. Example

    # same prelude as above
cmake -DBOOST_WITH_COMPONENT=test:build ..

  • BOOST_BUILD_DOC if set to ON, will build the documentation as part of the default build (defaults to OFF)

  • BOOST_BUILD_TEST if set to ON, will build the test as part of the default build (defaults to OFF)

  • BOOST_CREATE_VISIBLE_HEADER_ONLY if set to ON, will create a target for header only libraries that are visible on the IDE (as custom commands)

Naming conventions

Some naming conventions are under development. Currently 3 possible components:

  • build: contains the main build targets
  • doc: contains the documentation targets
  • test: contains the test targets

Alias are used to map any target to a boost::library (where library is a known library or tool of boost).

Build

  • boost::<package> is an alias to the default build artifact of package <package>

  • boost::<package>::<variant> is an alias to a specific variant of package <package>, if defined <variant> can be

    • header

Tests

  • the tests binary file can take any name
  • the declared test name should allow for easy subset filtering from ctest
  • a possible convention would be boost_<package>__<name-of-test>
  • boost::<package>__build_test is an alias for building the tests, in case those are not part of the default build

Unit testing boost-cmake

boost-cmake contains unit tests on its components/functions. You may run those by adding the option -DBUILD_BOOST_CMAKE_TESTS=ON and directly from the boost-cmake folder, like this:

# cloning the repo in a clean boost superproject
cd <boost_root>/tools
git clone https://github.com/raffienficiaud/boost-cmake.git
cd boost-cmake

# creating the binary folder
mkdir build
cd build

# configuring for tests
cmake -DDBUILD_BOOST_CMAKE_TESTS=ON ..

# running the tests
ctest

In case of tests, no other action is performed by the tool.

Documentation

Todos (random order)

  • port filesystem and system tests
  • port regex
  • unit testing quickbook functions