Building Boost with Boost.Log “error: target { simple_event_log.mc. } has no type”

Question

I am trying to build Boost.Log ( http://boost-log.sourceforge.net/libs/log/doc/html/index.html ). I added it to my boost sources and executed my usual boost build command.

b2 --build-dir="D:\boost\1.51.0\boost" toolset=gcc variant=release link=static threading=multi  runtime-link=static --build-type=complete

But nothing happened and I received this in the end:

D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\generators.jam:1085: in ensure-type from module generators
error: target { simple_event_log.mc. } has no type
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\generators.jam:1319: in generators.construct from module generators
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1495: in construct from module object(typed-target)@491
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1298: in object(typed-target)@491.generate from module object(typed-target)@491
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:732: in generate-really from module object(main-target)@1871

D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:704: in object(main-target)@1871.generate from module object(main-target)@1871
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:258: in object(project-target)@474.generate from module object(project-target)@474
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:848: in targets.generate-from-reference from module targets D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1217: in generate-dependencies from module object(install-target-class)@96
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1269: in object(install-target-class)@96.generate from module object(install-target-class)@96
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:732: in generate-really from module object(main-target)@930 D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:704: in object(main-target)@930.generate from module object(main-target)@930
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:848: in targets.generate-from-reference from module targets D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1217: in generate-dependencies from module object(top-level-target)@103
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1269: in alias-target-class.generate from module object(top-level-target)@103
D:/boost/1.51.0/src\boostcpp.jam:391: in build-multiple from module object(top-level-target)@103
D:/boost/1.51.0/src\boostcpp.jam:376: in object(top-level-target)@103.generate from module object(top-level-target)@103
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:732: in generate-really from module object(main-target)@934 D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:704: in object(main-target)@934.generate from module object(main-target)@934
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:848: in targets.generate-from-reference from module targets D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1217: in generate-dependencies from module object(top-level-target)@104
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:1269: in alias-target-class.generate from module object(top-level-target)@104
D:/boost/1.51.0/src\boostcpp.jam:391: in build-multiple from module object(top-level-target)@104
D:/boost/1.51.0/src\boostcpp.jam:376: in object(top-level-target)@104.generate from module object(top-level-target)@104
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:732: in generate-really from module object(main-target)@935 D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:704: in object(main-target)@935.generate from module object(main-target)@935
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2/build\targets.jam:258: in object(project-target)@42.generate from module object(project-target)@42
D:/boost/1.51.0/src/tools/build/v2\build-system.jam:736: in load from module build-system
D:\boost\1.51.0\src\tools\build\v2/kernel\modules.jam:283: in import from module modules
D:\boost\1.51.0\src\tools\build\v2/kernel/bootstrap.jam:142: in boost-build from module
D:\boost\1.51.0\src\boost-build.jam:17: in module scope from module                                   

Could you, please explain what does it means or how I can see more error info? How did you build Boost.Log?

Answer 1

The answer to the problem can be found here:

Second, at some point the library will require a Message Compiler tool (mc.exe), which is not available in MinGW, Cygwin and MSVC Express Edition. You have two options to settle the problem. In case of MinGW and Cygwin you can use the windmc.exe tool, which is the analogue of the original mc.exe. In order to do that you will have to patch Boost.Build files (in particular, the tools/build/v2/tools/mc.jam file) as described in this ticket. After that you will be able to specify the mc-compiler=windmc option to bjam to build the library.

Here is a link to the patch. Applying the patch and passing mc-compiler=windmc should solve the problem.

Note: Also, as noted on the comments in the ticket, you need to add import mc ; after import fortran ; in tools\build\v2\tools\gcc.jam.

Here is what your mc.jam file should look like after applying the patch (make sure your file looks like the following):

import common ;
import generators ;
import feature : feature get-values ;
import toolset : flags ;
import type ;
import rc ;

feature.feature mc-compiler : mc windmc : propagated ; 
feature.set-default mc-compiler : mc ; 

rule init ( )
{
}

type.register MC : mc ;


# Command line options
feature mc-input-encoding : ansi unicode : free ;
feature mc-output-encoding : unicode ansi : free ;
feature mc-set-customer-bit : no yes : free ;

flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-input-encoding>ansi : -a ;
flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-input-encoding>unicode : -u ;
flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-output-encoding>ansi : -A ;
flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-output-encoding>unicode : -U ;
flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-set-customer-bit>no : ;
flags mc.compile MCFLAGS <mc-set-customer-bit>yes : -c ;

generators.register-standard mc.compile.mc : MC : H RC : <mc-compiler>mc ; 
generators.register-standard mc.compile.windmc : MC : H RC : <mc-compiler>windmc ;

actions compile.mc
{ 
    mc $(MCFLAGS) -h "$(<[1]:DW)" -r "$(<[2]:DW)" "$(>:W)" 
}

actions compile.windmc
{ 
    windmc $(MCFLAGS) -h "$(<[1]:DW)" -r "$(<[2]:DW)" "$(>:W)" 
} 

WARNING

boost-log\branches\bleeding-edge fails to compile for me (gcc 4.7.1). I used the one in boost-log\trunk\boost-log for a successful build (built on 2012-09-05).

Answer 2

Try:

b2 toolset=gcc --build-type=complete threading=multi architecture=x86 address-model=32 --with-log define=BOOST_LOG_USE_CHAR --stagedir=.

It was working for me with Boost 1.51 and Boost::Log rev. 721