Using boost-python with C++ in Linux - c++

My development shop has put together a fairly useful Python-based test suite, and we'd like to test some Linux-based C++ code with it. We've gotten the test project they ship with Boost to compile (type 'bjam' in the directory and it works), but we're having issues with our actual project.
Building the boost libraries and bjam from source (v1.35.0), when I run bjam I get a .so in the bin/gcc-4.1.2/debug directory. I run python and "import " and I get:
ImportError: libboost_python-gcc41-d-1_35.so.1.35.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Looking in the library directory, I have the following:
libboost_python-gcc41-mt-1_35.so libboost_python-gcc41-mt-1_35.so.1.35.0 libboost_python-gcc41-mt.so
Obviously I need the -d instead of the -mt libraries, or to point at the -mt libraries instead of -d, but I can't figure out how to make my Jamroot file do that.
When I install Debian Etch's versions of the libraries, I get "No Jamfile in /usr/include" - and there's a debian bug that says they left out the system-level jamfile.
I'm more hopeful about getting it working from source, so if anyone has any suggestions to resolve the library issues, I'd like to hear them.
Response to answer 1: Thanks for the tip. So, do you know how I'd go about getting it to use the MT libraries instead? It appears to be more of a problem with bjam or the Jamfile I am using thinking I am in debug mode, even though I can't find any flags for that. While I know how to include specific libraries in a call to GCC, I don't see a way to configure that from the Boost end.

If you want to build the debug variants of the boost libraries as well, you have to invoke bjam with the option --build-type=complete.
On Debian, you get the debug Python interpreter in the python2.x-dbg packages. Debug builds of the Boost libraries are in libboost1.xy-dbg, if you want to use the system Boost.

Found the solution! Boost builds a debug build by default. Typing "bjam release" builds the release configuration. (This isn't listed in any documentation anywhere, as far as I can tell.) Note that this is not the same as changing your build-type to release, as that doesn't build a release configuration. Doing a 'complete' build as Torsten suggests also does not stop it from building only a debug version.
It's also worth noting that the -d libraries were in <boost-version>/bin.v2/libs/python/build/<gcc version>/debug/ and the release libraries were in <gcc-version>/release, and not installed into the top-level 'libs' directory.
Thanks for the other suggestions!

One important Point: -d means debug of course, and should only be linked to a debug build of your project and can only be used with a debug build of python (OR NOT, SEE BELOW). If you try to link a debug lib to a non-debug build, or you try to import a debug pyd into a non-debug python, bad things will happen.
mt means multi-threaded and is orthogonal to d. You probably want to use a mt non-d for your project.
I am afraid I don't know how to tell gcc what to link against (I have been using Visual Studio). One thing to try:
man gcc
Somewhere that should tell you how to force specific libs on the linker.
EDIT: Actually you can import a debug version of you project into a non-debug build of python. Wherever you included python.h, include boost/python/detail/wrap_python.hpp instead.

Related

Compile library such that GDB finds sources automatically

We are compiling a library with CMAKE under Linux which is then installed per default under /opt/mylib and its sources are placed in this folder as well.
When users try to debug with GDB the library sources are not found by GDB automatically.
How can we compile the library that GDB finds sources without specifying anything?
For example the C++ standard library works like that. I can debug an application and I do not have to tell GDB where to find the sources.
Note: This question is not about how to make GDB find the sources (I know how to do this) but how to adapt the CMakeLists.txt and the compile process that it is not necessary to manually specify the source directory in GDB.
You are likely looking for the -fdebug-prefix-map=old=new GCC flag.
From the manual:
When compiling files residing in directory old, record debugging information describing them as if the files resided in directory new instead. This can be used to replace a build-time path with an install-time path in the debug info. It can also be used to change an absolute path to a relative path by using . for new. This can give more reproducible builds, which are location independent, but may require an extra command to tell GDB where to find the source files. See also -ffile-prefix-map.
The "may require an extra command" part applies if you want to debug as-built binaries without installing them. Debugging installed binaries will just work (TM).

How to build Crypto++ library on Linux with MinGW?

im trying to port a c++ project from visual studio 2013 to netbeans on ubuntu. The target is a windows executable, so far im able to compile windows exe files from netbeans using mingw as compiler.
The project needs the Crypto++ library and i only have the .lib version for visual studio. To include the library in netbeans i first need to build the Crypto++ library in the .a format.
Its not clear to me how should i do that.
Ive found informations on how to build the library for linux with mingw but not for cross compilation with mingw. The provided GNUmakefile does not work.
Should i set up a vm with windows and mingw and compile the library that way? Or maybe use the qmake "hack" as suggested here http://www.qtcentre.org/threads/28809-Compiling-amp-using-Crypto-with-mingw-version-of-Qt ? The last good Crypto++ version suggested there is quite old. This is confusing, porting the whole project is easier than having the required library.
Im open to any suggestion.
tldr: how to build libcryptopp.a on linux for the cross compilation of a windows exe project
edit:
for example if i cross compile something there are windows libraries in the /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/lib/ folder like libuser32.a. i need to make the equivalend libcryptopp.a.. sorry if is a bit unclear.
if i simply build using the steps in answer (and in the wiki) i end up with a libcryptopp.a file but i suspect is linux-only, cause if i link that library in netbeans in the .exe file im cross compiling i end up with undefined references to cryptopp stuff everywere. the paths are correct, i suspect the library needs to be replaced with the equivalent libcryptopp.a compatible with crosscompiling.
edit2: im trying to follow the answer down here, now im stuck here. after this command to build cryptopp.
make CXX=/usr/bin/i686-w64-mingw32-gcc INCLUDES="-I /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/include" LIBS="-L /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/lib" CXXFLAGS="-std=c++0x"
and many variations of it i always end up with this error
trap.h:26:25: fatal error: Windows.h: No such file or directory
# include
which makes me think its using the right compiler to make a .a lib file for cross compiling the windows .exe with the lib.
however i dont understand whats going on now with the missing header..:(
Also if i try to link the lib file (used with visual studio) i get a lot of linking errors, undefined reference to cryptopp stuff.
ill offer a symbolic beer (a couple of $ of Bitcoins) if someone finds out how to do it.
Inspired by http://wiki.amule.org/wiki/Cross-compilation_for_windows_with_mingw:
sudo apt-get install mingw-w64
git clone https://github.com/weidai11/cryptopp
cd cryptopp
export TARGET=i686-w64-mingw32
CXX=$TARGET-g++ RANLIB=$TARGET-ranlib AR=$TARGET-ar LDLIBS=-lws2_32 make -f GNUmakefile
I've found informations on how to build the library for linux with mingw but not for cross compilation with mingw.
Its relatively easy...
Get Crypto++ ZIP into MinGW.
Unpack Crypto++ ZIP.
Change directories.
Build the library.
Verify All tests passed.
(1) and (2) can be tricky because Cygwin and MinGW are missing a lot of tools. So curl https://www.cryptopp.com/cryptopp563.zip -o cryptopp563.zip may not work.
For (2), I seem to recall ZIP is missing, so unzip -aoq cryptopp563.zip -d cryptopp-5.6.3 may not work.
At step (4), just perform make static dynamic test and be sure it finished with All tests passed.
I do a lot of testing with Cygwin and MinGW. I have a script that copies Crypto++ into the environments from my Desktop. I have not been able to figure out a way to automate it. A recent question on automating it was closed, so no one can supply an answer (see How to automate software testing for Cygwin and MinGW).

Building libtorrent with openssl with BJam

I am trying to build libtorrent (http://www.libtorrent.org/) using the provided jamfile. If I try to build it in its vanilla state everything goes well. I am then building using this command:
bjam msvc-12.0 boost=source
However I want to build it with OpenSSL which there seem to be support for. This is where I run into problems. Most likely because it is the first time I use Bjam (actually anything else than make files). I now try to run the following command:
bjam msvc-12.0 boost=source encryption=openssl
Now the compiler starts to complain about not finding the OpenSSL include files.
So I guess I have to include this path in the JAM file. But I have no idea where.
I also tried to add the path into the INCLUDE environment varaible in windows but that doesn't seem to be picked up by BJAM or msvc. Any suggestions?
My understanding of how this is normally done on windows is by installing libraries and headers into visual studio's include and lib folders.
(That's how I install openssl on windows at least).
The jamfile is also supposed to pick up CXXFLAGS and LDFLAGS environment variables, which you could use to introduce the library- and include paths. However, it only does this when boost=system is specified, i.e. you're building against "system" boost libraries instead of from source.

How to install protobuf on windows? (Win7x64/MinGW)

C++-Protobuf does not compile in VS2012. Now I want to use MinGW to compile it on windows. Can someone please give me some brief headwords on how to compile protobuf on Win7 x64. I already installed MinGW with the GUI installer. Google writes as MinGW setup notice that I should refer to the Unix installation notes. But I cant figure out how to use the auto tools on windows.
Edit
Okay this is what I've done until now:
$ mount C:/ WinDir
$ cd ./[...]/protobuf.2.4.1
$ ./configure
$ minGW32-make.exe
$ minGW32-make.exe check
minGW32-make.exe runs without errors, but no tests are running and I cant find libprotobuf.lib. There are some libprotobuf.dll but I need the lib, dont I?.
You should have an MSys console together with your MinGW instalation. This console provides an linux-like environment in which you should be able to use autotools normally.
If MSys is not installed, you can grab it from the MinGW site too.
cd to your directory with sources and try the usual:
$ ./configure
$ make
Some libraries cause problems on Windows but most compile well with MinGW and MSys. Come back and add more info to your question if you run into specific problems.
Edit:
minGW32-make.exe runs without errors, but no tests are running and I cant find libprotobuf.lib. There are some libprotobuf.dll but I need the lib, dont I?.
Usually for a dynamic library you'd get protobuf.dll (the dynamic library) and libprotobuf.a (the static wrapper library).
When linking, just pass -lprotobuf to the linker - it will look for both libprotobuf.a and protobuf.lib.
(.lib is another static library format, which is partially handled by MinGW but not native here.)
You will not work with a .lib file when using the MinGW toolchain. Instead, you are able to link against the dll directly. The MinGW Wiki explains this.
I could get dll and lib both. This is when you do not want static lib file and want to use dll and lib file.
You need to make following changes in Protobuf code:
Open the project in VS. Or any other editor. I use VS2015.
In libProtoBuf project settings, in C/C++ Preprocessor add following flags.
PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS; LIBPROTOBUF_EXPORTS;
Those flags will export information from profobuf using dllexport
in ur client code where you are using Protobuf, define: PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS. Which will make protobuf includes to use dllimport.
Once you do step 2, you will see both dll and lib in your output folder. Otherwise, you will always see just dll and not lib file.
Hope this helps. If not, please write a message here and I can help you getting this sorted out.

Installing Boost libraries with MinGW and CodeBlocks

I'm having my first fling with the Boost libraries, and I've picked a pretty girl named Regex.
I've installed the libraries (which build automatically?) on my machine, but I'm getting the above error (cannot find -lboost_regex). I'm using Code::Blocks with MinGW, and a C++0X compiler flag.
I have
Pointed the "search directories" to the installation directory
Added the -lboost_regex flag to the linker
but no luck. Can someone help me get this working?
Update
Got things running now. I've added some further notes in an answer below, for newcomers to this problem.
(Also, changed the title of the question since it turned out to be a broader issue than when I started out.)
Here's some links and tips that can help a newcomer, from my first build experience. I built the libraries directly from the zip file. I built on MinGW and I used CodeBlocks for the IDE.
Download Boost zip, unzip somewhere (I'll call that place $boostdir)
Pretty large when unzipped, > 300MB
Add MinGW bin to PATH var
When Boost builds, it will need access to MinGW executables
Build b2.exe and bjam.exe
The documentation for Windows blithely assumes MSVC compiler is available.
If it is, you can apparently use the bootstrap.bat like the docs say.
If it's not (like mine), you'll have to build the exe files yourself, in steps 4 and 5.
In CMD, navigate to $boostdir/tools/build/v2/engine
Run build.bat mingw (will build b2.exe and bjam.exe)
Some aging basic documentation on that
Now you've got b2 and bjam custom-built according to your system spec. Navigate back up to $boostdir and get ready to start building the libraries.
Boost will make a new bin.v2 directory in the current directory.
All the libs will go in bin.v2.
This is an "intermediate" directory, for some reason
Nothing to do in this step, just some extra info :)
Run b2 toolset=gcc --build-type=complete
This takes a long time, in the neighborhood of 1 - 2 hours.
You'll know if it's working. If you think something's wrong, it's not working.
The build can use various flags
Now you're all built. Time to set up CodeBlocks.
Point your compiler to the header files
Right click your project -> Build Options -> Search Directories tab -> Compiler tab -> add $boostdir address
Boost has built a DLL for the library you want according to your current system spec. Look in the stage\lib\ directory of $boostdir
This DLL will be used later in the linker, so don't close its explorer window yet
Mine was in C:\Program Files\Boost_1_52\stage\lib\libboost_regex-mgw44-1_52.dll
I think the documentation had a smart way to do this but I haven't tried it yet
The "intermediate" directory from step #6 can be deleted now that the build is finished
Point your linker to the directory of that DLL
Right click your project -> Build Options -> Search Directories tab -> Linker tab -> add
that directory address (blah\blah\blah\stage\lib\)
Add that DLL flag to your linker settings
Mine was -lboost_regex-mgw44-1_52
Deep breath, prayers to your god, and fire up a test.
Further docs that may either help or confuse:
The Code::Blocks website has a version of this that I didn't find until I neared the end of my search. It was fairly helpful but had a few weird things. This post also is helpful.
Good luck!
I'm not sure what you mean by which build automatically. Most of the Boost libraries are header-only, but a few, such as regex, need to be compiled to a shared / static library. The compilation step is not automatic, you need to invoke the Boost build system (bjam) to do this. Of course, there are sources (BoostPro for instance) that distribute pre-built Boost binaries for various platforms.
Once that's done, you need to add the path where the libraries are present to the linker's search path. For MinGW, this option is -L"path/to/library". Boost does have directives to allow auto-linking of the required libraries, and this seems to work pretty well with MSVC, but I've never gotten it to work with MinGW. So you must also list the libraries to be linked explicitly. The Boost libraries include target and version information in the file name by default, so a typical linker command line option will look like -lboost_regex-mgw47-mt-1_51 for MinGW gcc 4.7 and Boost 1.51