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c++windowsboostcmakeboost-filesystem

Compiling C++ with Boost 1.68.0 on Windows using CMake and MinGW

I want to use the Boost library on Windows but doing so has been troublesome. I downloaded the Windows package from here and extracted it to C:\Boost:

I added the following to my CMake file:

find_package(Boost 1.68 REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem)
# ...
target_link_libraries(MyExecutable ${Boost_LIBRARIES})

I'm getting the following CMake error:

C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\JetBrains\Toolbox\apps\CLion\ch-0\183.4284.104\bin\cmake\win\bin\cmake.exe -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug "-DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=C:/Program Files/mingw-w64/x86_64-8.1.0-win32-seh-rt_v6-rev0/mingw64/bin/mingw32-make.exe" "-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=C:/Program Files/mingw-w64/x86_64-8.1.0-win32-seh-rt_v6-rev0/mingw64/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe" "-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=C:/Program Files/mingw-w64/x86_64-8.1.0-win32-seh-rt_v6-rev0/mingw64/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++.exe" -G "CodeBlocks - MinGW Makefiles" D:\Cpp\MyProject
CMake Error at C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/CLion/ch-0/183.4284.104/bin/cmake/win/share/cmake-3.12/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:2048 (message):
  Unable to find the requested Boost libraries.

  Boost version: 1.68.0

  Boost include path: C:/Boost

  Could not find the following Boost libraries:

          boost_filesystem

  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:6 (find_package)


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "D:/Cpp/MyProject/cmake-build-debug/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".

[Failed to reload]

It apparently cannot find filesystem but it's there in C:\Boost\boost\filesystem (here is the documentation on FindBoost). enter image description here

How do I setup my CMake file to use Boost properly? I tried setting the Boost environment variables as well but it still didn't work:

SET (BOOST_ROOT "c:/Boost")
SET (BOOST_INCLUDEDIR "c:/Boost/boost")
SET (BOOST_LIBRARYDIR "c:/Boost/libs")

FIND_PACKAGE(Boost 1.68.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem)
Solution

  • Also, Boost says that most things don't have to be compiled so I didn't do that.

    It cannot find the library boost::filesystem. Because boost::filesystem is one of the few libraries that need to be compiled (all the ones that you have to specify in the find package command have to be compiled).

    You need to build boost first:

    ./booststrap.sh

    And then:

    bjam

    It picks up whatever compiler is available, so you may have to set the proper toolset manually.