cannot find -lboost_filesystem and -lboost_system

Question

I am using boost::filesystem in my sample program, but getting linking error.

Here is the sample program:

#include<boost/filesystem.hpp>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string fromPath = "/home/anurag/testfile";
    string toPath = "/home/anurag/testfile";

    boost::filesystem::copy_file(fromPath,toPath);
    return 0;
}

Here is the steps in an attempt to fix this issue:

1. g++ -g test.cpp -o out -I/apps/rcast/anurag/vendor/RH6.1AS_64/x86_64/boost_1_64_0/ Note: inside this boost and lib directories present,and the filesystem.hpp is in boost/

I got linking errors here because i had missed to include lboost_system and lboost_filesystem

2. Specified -L option and specified the libraries during build :

g++ -g test.cpp -o out -I/apps/rcast/anurag/vendor/RH6.1AS_64/x86_64/boost_1_64_0/ -L/apps/rcast/anurag/vendor/RH6.1AS_64/x86_64/boost_1_64_0/lib/ -lboost_system -lboost_filesystem

Error:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lboost_filesystem
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lboost_system
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

3. added library path in LD_LIBRARY_PATH even though not required as i specified in -L option Now echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH shows /xenv/gcc_gnu/X/6.1.0/lib64:/apps/rcast/anurag/vecndor/RH6.1AS_64/x86_64/boost_1_64_0/lib

Still same Error.

In boost_1_64_0/lib/ libs present are ls -lart libboost*system* :

libboost_filesystem-gcc61-mt-sd-1_64.a
libboost_system-gcc61-mt-sd-1_64.a
libboost_filesystem-gcc61-mt-s-1_64.a
libboost_system-gcc61-mt-s-1_64.a

Answer 1

-lboost_filesystem causes the linker to look for a file named libboost_filesystem.a or libboost_filesystem.so as your file is called libboost_filesystem-gcc61-mt-s-1_64.a you need to pass -lboost_filesystem-gcc61-mt-s-1_64 to the linker