Cmake error when adding Boost library - c++

Question

I am trying to add Boost library to my project using the CMakeLists.txt in the follwing way:
set(BOOST_INCLUDEDIR "C:/boost_1_57_0")
set(BOOST_LIBRARYDIR "C:/boost_1_57_0/stage/lib")
find_package(Boost 1.57.0 COMPONENTS filesystem)
include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
add_executable(test test.cpp)
target_link_libraries(test ${Boost_LIBRARIES})
However, I get the followng error: LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'libboost_filesystem-vc120-mt-1_57.lib'
libboost_filesystem-vc120-mt-1_57.lib is located in the stage/lib folder, so I don't know what is going on. I am compiling with Visual Studio 2013.
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Try setting the Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS and Boost_USE_MULTITHREADED CMake variables to ON before using find_package, i.e.:
set( Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS ON )
set( Boost_USE_MULTITHREADED ON )
find_package( Boost 1.57.0 COMPONENTS filesystem )
I've come across this problem before and it seems as though, on multithreaded windows systems, the Boost bootstrap installer compiles multithreaded, static libraries by default. However, the CMake FindBoost script (which is used by find_package) searches for single-threaded, dynamic libraries by default.

Answer 2

Since you're using VS compiler I'll say you're working on Windows.
The error refers to the linker, which is failing to find boost libraries, as noticed.
Taking into account that the library exists in the boost path, my solution was to do a file(COPY) for the specific library, as a last resort.
if(WIN32)
set(BOOST_ROOT "C:/boost_1_57_0")
set(BOOST_LIBRARYDIR ${BOOST_ROOT}/stage/lib/)
endif()
find_package(Boost 1.57.0 EXACT REQUIRED system filesystem)
if(Boost_FOUND)
message(STATUS "found boost, Boost_LIBRARIES <" ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ">")
include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
link_directories(${Boost_LIBRARY_DIRS})
set(Boost_USE_MULTITHREADED ON)
set(Boost_USE_STATIC_RUNTIME OFF)
else()
message(STATUS "boost not found")
endif()
target_link_libraries(boost_test ${Boost_LIBRARIES})
file(COPY "${Boost_LIBRARY_DIRS}/boost_filesystem-vc120-mt-1_57.dll" DESTINATION "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
You may add some log messages to the CMake in order to know the values returned in the
find_package.

Answer 3

Make sure the architecture (x64) matches.
$ cmake -A x64 ..
Use link_directories command before adding executables just like include_directories.
link_directories(${Boost_LIBRARY_DIRS})