g++ building c++ program with boost dependencies

Question

I want to compile and run a simple c++ websocket application with g++ on windows.

Boost was installed like this:

./bootstrap.bat mingw
./b2.exe install --prefix=C:/boostLibs toolset=gcc

My c++ includes look like this:

#include <websocketpp/config/asio_no_tls.hpp>

#include <websocketpp/server.hpp>

#include <iostream>

This websocket sample was provided by https://github.com/zaphoyd/websocketpp

In order to build the project I issue this command:

g++ -Wno-deprecated -I ./cppServer/libs/ -I C:\boostLibs\include\boost-1_55 -L C:\boostLibs\lib -g ./cppServer/server.cpp -lboost_system

Which leeds me to this error message:

c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/6.3.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lboost_system collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

If I try to build without -lboost_system, I get a very long exception, starting with:

C:/boostLibs/include/boost-1_55/boost/system/error_code.hpp:222: undefined reference to boost::system::generic_category()' C:/boostLibs/include/boost-1_55/boost/system/error_code.hpp:223: undefined reference toboost::system::generic_category()' C:/boostLibs/include/boost-1_55/boost/system/error_code.hpp:224: undefined reference to boost::system::system_category()' C:\Users\JOHANN~1.HAS\AppData\Local\Temp\ccpKMWTH.o: In functionZN5boost6system10error_codeC1Ev': C:/boostLibs/include/boost-1_55/boost/system/error_code.hpp:323: undefined reference to boost::system::system_category()' C:\Users\JOHANN~1.HAS\AppData\Local\Temp\ccpKMWTH.o: In functionZN5boost6system4errc20make_error_conditionENS1_6errc_tE': C:/boostLibs/include/boost-1_55/boost/system/error_code.hpp:488: undefined reference to boost::system::generic_category()' C:\Users\JOHANN~1.HAS\AppData\Local\Temp\ccpKMWTH.o: In functionZN5boost16thread_exceptionC2EiPKc'

So what am I missing? I can't figure it out right now.

Answer 1

Link to boost_system as -lboost_system-mgw63-mt-1_55, because this is what those files are called. See boost library naming for more details.

When you build boost you may like to specify --layout=system to b2.exe so that your files do not have that -mgw63-mt-1_55 in the filename and then just use -lboost_system when linking against it.