CMake is unable to find boost_asio - c++

Question

I am trying to install and use Boost 1.60.0 in my new C++ project. (I use Ubuntu, CLion and CMake for developing and building).
What have I done?
I downloaded Boost from the link provided on the website.
Extracted into /devenv/boost160 (/devenv/boost160 is the root, after I renamed the original folder)
I ran ./bootstrap.sh from /devenv/boost160 (everything went ok; according to their official documentation, running this without arguments, takes the output into /usr/local) and it went smoothly.
I created a CLion project and added the following to CMakeLists.txt.
set(BOOST_ROOT /usr/local/include/boost)
set(BOOST_LIBRARYDIR /usr/local/lib)
set(Boost_USE_MULTITHREAD ON)
set(Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS ON)
set(Boost_DEBUG ON)
find_package(Boost 1.60.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS asio date_time)
IF (Boost_FOUND)
include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
endif()
I ran the CLion's Build command and I got the following output, basically saying that it's unable to find boost_asio.
/devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/bin/cmake --build /home/victor/.clion11/system/cmake/generated/50ae3d2f/50ae3d2f/Debug0 --target all -- -j 8
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:549 ] _boost_TEST_VERSIONS =
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:551 ] Boost_USE_MULTITHREADED = TRUE
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:553 ] Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS = ON
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:555 ] Boost_USE_STATIC_RUNTIME = ON
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:557 ] Boost_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS =
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:559 ] Boost_NO_SYSTEM_PATHS =
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:611 ] Declared as CMake or Environmental Variables:
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:613 ] BOOST_ROOT = /usr/local/include/boost
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:615 ] BOOST_INCLUDEDIR =
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:617 ] BOOST_LIBRARYDIR = /usr/local/lib
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:619 ] _boost_TEST_VERSIONS =
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:712 ] location of version.hpp: /usr/local/include/boost/version.hpp
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:736 ] version.hpp reveals boost 1.60.0
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:822 ] guessed _boost_COMPILER = -gcc48
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:832 ] _boost_MULTITHREADED = -mt
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:875 ] _boost_RELEASE_ABI_TAG = -s
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:877 ] _boost_DEBUG_ABI_TAG = -sd
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:931 ] _boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_RELEASE = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_DEBUG = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1043 ] Searching for ASIO_LIBRARY_RELEASE: boost_asio-gcc48-mt-s-1_60;boost_asio-gcc48-mt-s;boost_asio-mt-s-1_60;boost_asio-mt-s;boost_asio
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:343 ] Boost_LIBRARY_DIR_RELEASE = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu _boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_RELEASE = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1085 ] Searching for ASIO_LIBRARY_DEBUG: boost_asio-gcc48-mt-sd-1_60;boost_asio-gcc48-mt-sd;boost_asio-mt-sd-1_60;boost_asio-mt-sd;boost_asio-mt;boost_asio
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:343 ] Boost_LIBRARY_DIR_DEBUG = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu _boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_DEBUG = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1043 ] Searching for DATE_TIME_LIBRARY_RELEASE: boost_date_time-gcc48-mt-s-1_60;boost_date_time-gcc48-mt-s;boost_date_time-mt-s-1_60;boost_date_time-mt-s;boost_date_time
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:343 ] Boost_LIBRARY_DIR_RELEASE = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu _boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_RELEASE = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1085 ] Searching for DATE_TIME_LIBRARY_DEBUG: boost_date_time-gcc48-mt-sd-1_60;boost_date_time-gcc48-mt-sd;boost_date_time-mt-sd-1_60;boost_date_time-mt-sd;boost_date_time-mt;boost_date_time
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:343 ] Boost_LIBRARY_DIR_DEBUG = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu _boost_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DIRS_DEBUG = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu;NO_DEFAULT_PATH;NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
-- [ /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1151 ] Boost_FOUND = 1
CMake Error at /devenv/clion-1.1/bin/cmake/share/cmake-3.3/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1245 (message):
Unable to find the requested Boost libraries.
Boost version: 1.60.0
Boost include path: /usr/local/include
Could not find the following static Boost libraries:
boost_asio
Some (but not all) of the required Boost libraries were found. You may
need to install these additional Boost libraries. Alternatively, set
BOOST_LIBRARYDIR to the directory containing Boost libraries or BOOST_ROOT
to the location of Boost.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
CMakeLists.txt:12 (find_package)
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "/home/victor/.clion11/system/cmake/generated/50ae3d2f/50ae3d2f/Debug0/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
make: *** [cmake_check_build_system] Error 1
How can I use Boost 1.60.0 in my project given my configuration? Thank you!

Answer 1

Boost.Asio is a header-only library. The standard CMake function to locate Boost components (FindBoost.cmake) considers only components with pre-built libraries as components, assuming that the header-only components are installed completed with the rest of Boost headers. So you should use find_package(Boost 1.60.0 REQUIRED date_time) (date_time actually has pre-built library and can be located by the FindBoost.cmake).
I'd say that FindBoost.cmake could be enhanced to hide difference between header-only libraries and the real, pre-built ones for application developers. But right now it's the responsibility of the latters.
Edit Regarding the error with system_category: you need Boost.System library as well, so the find_package invocation should look like find_package(Boost 1.60.0 REQUIRED date_time system) and then use Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY in target_link_libraries. Unfortunately it seems that Boost still uses it's own implementation of system_category while the latter was standardized in C++11