Boost is using pthread but should use win32

Question

I used Cmake gui and the FindBoost module to add Boost as a dependency in my visual studio 2010 c++ project. I set the parameter that tells FindBoost to use the win32 thread library instead of pthread (because I'm running on windows). When i build my code, all the calls to boost libraries compile fine, but boost itself is having a compile error. its failing on

boost\thread\pthread\mutex.hpp line 11 cannot open include file: 'pthread.h': No such file or directory

If I could make it use the win32 library, the mutex.hpp (and all the other files) dont call pthread.h How do I build so that it uses boost\thread\win32 ?

here is the section of my cmakelists.txt

# include boost

set(BOOST_ROOT "E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0")

add_definitions( -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB )

find_package(Boost COMPONENTS thread system)

if(Boost_FOUND)

    message(STATUS "Boost was found, Success!")

    # telling it to use win32 threads not pthreads

      set(Boost_THREADAPI "win32") 

      INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})

      LINK_DIRECTORIES(${Boost_LIBRARY_DIRS})

endif()

CMake comes with a module called FindBoost which i used, and it correctly found the boost directory and set the following

Boost_INCLUDE_DIR
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/

Boost_LIBRARY_DIR
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib

Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_DEBUG
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib/boost_system-vc100-mt-gd-1_58.lib

Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_RELEASE
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib/boost_system-vc100-mt-1_58.lib

Boost_THREAD_LIBRARY_DEBUG
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib/boost_system-vc100-mt-gd-1_58.lib

Boost_THREAD_LIBRARY_RELEASE
E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib/boost_thread-vc100-mt-1_58.lib

visual studio project settings

C/C++ -> General -> Additional Include Directories:
    ...bunch of my other dependencies
    E:\boost_1_58_0\boost_1_58_0

Linker -> General -> Additional Library Directories

E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib;E:/boost_1_58_0/boost_1_58_0/stage/lib/$(Configuration);%(AdditionalLibraryDirectories)

Linker -> General -> Link Library Dependencies - No
Linker -> General -> Use LIbrary Dependency Inputs - No
Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies:
    ...bunch of my other .libs
    boost_thread.lib
    boost_system.lib

yea i built boost using bootstrap and b2 with the msvc-10.0 settings. my project's calls to the boost libraries are compiling. its just the boost itself, which i dont understand. i know the binaries are already built and i know you still need headers to say what is available in those binaries. i guess its just picking the wrong headers. — mobooya
Are you cross-compiling? You don't need to set Boost_THREADAPI if you're on Windows. How do you generate VS project file from this CMakeLists? What global macros do you see in the VS project file (project or cpp settings)? — Igor R.
im not cross compiling today, but a few months from now i will. I generate the VS project using Cmake-gui. I will edit the main post to list the cmake and VS project settings — mobooya

mobooya mobooya · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-15T23:33:39

I fixed the error but I had try what I call the "dumb" way. The "smart" way didnt work. Smart way was reviewing several times the cmakelists code and the visual studio include library settings. i even did a clean and rebuild boost using b2 and manually set threading=multi and link=static because i thought maybe the library just wasnt built correct.

Finally i gave up and tried the dumb way: I cut and pasted the pthread folder and moved it somewhere else, so that it was no longer in the boost/thread folder, only the win32 folder.
I wish i tried it so long ago, because i didnt think that the compilation error would be due to my project's code, but rather an environment setting in the include and linking. But sure enough i got an error showing that in one of my project's files i was directly trying to include that mutex.hpp from the pthread folder. i didnt write this code (its open source) so i couldnt have exactly known, but still i want to slap myself

#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include <boost/thread/pthread/mutex.hpp>

changing pthread to win32 made the error go away.

Boost is using pthread but should use win32

1 Answers