b2 build group libs

b2 build group libs - Posted on Jun 21, 2024 - See https://www.bfgroup.xyz/b2 - Logs Home - d0025

b2 build, how to group many libaries as a bunch

Purpose:

I have many library targets, I don't want to link them by writting their names one by one, I want to make one name to all of them.

For example, I want to merge sfml-graphics, sfml-window, and sfml-audio, and sfml-system into one name target.

How to define library target in b2 build jamfile

Build library target

lib the_lib_name : src1.cpp src2.cpp : <cxxstd>23 ;

This will build a library libthe_lib_name.so with src1.cpp and src2.cpp, and the library target name is the_lib_name .

Prebuilt library target

lib the_lib_name : : <name>the_name <search>/usr/local/lib : : <include>/usr/local/include ;

This will define a library target the_lib_name .

Because the source code list is empty, it will use prebuilt library .

<name>the_name , this means it will search name libthe_name.so

<search>/usr/local/lib, this means it will search path /usr/local/lib to find that libthe_name.so

<include>/usr/local/include, this means any other targets that depend this target will add -I/usr/local/include as their include path.

Many b2 jamfile rules follow parameter format like this:

rule_name param1 : param2 : param3 : param4 : param5 : param6 : ... : ... : ... ;

For example, the rule lib :

lib lib_name : source_code_list : requirements : default-build : usage-requirements ;

param1: lib_name - It must have a target name, which might be depended by other targets .
param2: source_code_list - c++ source code list, which are used to build the target library.
param3: requirements - requirement conditions, can not be overrided.
param4: default-build - default-build conditions, can be override at command line.
param5: usage-requirements - the requirements that are used by other targets that depend on this target.

If the library search path is standard, ...

If the library search path is standard, the <search> can be empty.

lib sfml-audio : : <name>sfml-audio ;	# Omit the <search>

Because the search path of sfml is standard, the <search> can be omitted.

More short ...

lib sfml-audio ;

This is the same as :

lib sfml-audio : : <name>sfml-audio ;

But if you want to use different target name and library name, you can not use that short code.

lib audio : : <name>sfml-audio ;	# target name is audio, library name is sfml-audio, aka. libsfml-audio.so

To define many targets, nice:

lib sfml-audio sfml-window sfml-graphics ;

It is the same as:

lib sfml-audio : : <name>sfml-audio ;
lib sfml-window : : <name>sfml-window ;
lib sfml-graphics : : <name>sfml-graphics ;

alias to many targets

alias target : target1 target2 target3 ;

So, I have my first solution:

lib sfml-graphics sfml-window sfml-audio sfml-system ;
alias sfml : sfml-graphics sfml-window sfml-audio sfml-system ;

exe my_prog : my_prog.cpp : <library>sfml <cxxstd>23 ;