Qt on Mac: boost filesystem library - symbols not found for architecture x86_64

Question

I am trying to run a Qt project that depends upon boost filesystem library.

Qt version: 5.6
Mac OSX 10.12
Xcode version: 8.0
Boost: 1.54

When I try to build the project, I get the following error,

"typeinfo for std::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>", referenced from:
      typeinfo for boost::filesystem::detail::utf8_codecvt_facet in libboost_filesystem-mt.a(utf8_codecvt_facet.o)

ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

I've looked at many threads on stack overflow (1, 2, 3), but none of them seem to solve my issue.

My .pro file has the following statements

macx:INCLUDEPATH += ../../boost_1_54_0
macx:LIBPATH += ../../boost_1_54_0
macx:LIBS += -lboost_filesystem-mt -lboost_system-mt -larchive -lz

[I have static files of boost-filesystem, boost-system, lib archive, libz in the build directory]

How do I solve this issue?

have you set `LIBPATH` to the directory where your boost libraries are? — Hayt, Oct 28 '16 at 07:21
you should add this to the question then as it is a relevant information for others. — Hayt, Oct 28 '16 at 07:34
You said you have the libraries in the build directory? `../../boost_1_54_0` would then not be the directory where the libraries are if I guess correctly. — Hayt, Oct 28 '16 at 07:44
I only have the static libraries (libboost_filesystem-mt.a, etc.) in the build directory — akashrajkn, Oct 28 '16 at 07:53

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 28 '16 at 08:00

It sounds like you're building with a mix of libc++ and libstdc++. At a guess you need to compile your product with the flag -stdlib=stdc++.

Although I would advise changing your entire compile path to just use the default stdlib (libc++), to avoid just this situation

libstdc++ has the following:

$ nm /usr/lib/libstdc++.6.0.9.dylib | c++filt | grep 'std::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>' | grep typeinfo
0000000000051710 S typeinfo for std::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>
000000000004b760 S typeinfo name for std::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>

while libc++ has the following:

$ nm /usr/lib/libc++.dylib | c++filt | grep '::codecvt<wchar_t' | grep typeinfo
0000000000057ff0 S typeinfo for std::__1::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>
0000000000052070 S typeinfo name for std::__1::codecvt<wchar_t, char, __mbstate_t>

Note the intervening ::__1:: which is designed to prevent libc++ and libstdc++ interactions from breaking your app silently.

Hi, this worked I think, I'm no longer getting that error. Now I'm getting "Failed to start program. Path or permissions wrong?" But this seems to be a different issue. — akashrajkn, Oct 28 '16 at 11:11

Qt on Mac: boost filesystem library - symbols not found for architecture x86_64

1 Answers1