boost bjam fails as a cmake external project

Question

I am trying to add boost bjam build as an external cmake project.

This is my cmake code to build boost

include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(
        libboost
        PREFIX ${BOOST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}
        SOURCE_DIR ${BOOST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY}
        BINARY_DIR ${BOOST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY}
        CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
        BUILD_COMMAND ${b2Path}
                --build-dir=${BOOST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}
                --link=static
                --variant=debug
                --build-type=complete
        INSTALL_COMMAND ${b2Path}
                --prefix=${BOOST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/${BoostFolderName}
                --link=static
                --variant=debug
                --build-type=complete
        INSTALL_DIR ${BOOST_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/${BoostFolderName}
        LOG_BUILD ON
        LOG_INSTALL ON
        )
message("boostbuild done")

The problem here is, once in a while it fails. the same step for bjam doesn't fail if invoked through command line.

The error is

 type "C:\Users\adhal\AppData\Local\Temp\jam6818c95b4.000" > "C:\build-sdk-Desktop_Qt_5_11_3_MSVC2017_64bit-Debug\external\boost\boost\bin.v2\libs\program_options\build\msvc-14.1\debug\address-model-64\link-static\runtime-link-static\threading-multi\libboost_program_options-variant-vc141-mt-sgd-x64-1_73-static.cmake"

...failed text-action C:\build-sdk-Desktop_Qt_5_11_3_MSVC2017_64bit-Debug\external\boost\boost\bin.v2\libs\program_options\build\msvc-14.1\debug\address-model-64\link-static\runtime-link-static\threading-multi\libboost_program_options-variant-vc141-mt-sgd-x64-1_73-static.cmake...
...skipped <pC:\proj\sdk\external\boost-program-options\stage\lib\cmake\boost_program_options-1.73.0>libboost_program_options-variant-vc141-mt-sgd-x64-1_73-static.cmake for lack of <pC:\build-sdk-Desktop_Qt_5_11_3_MSVC2017_64bit-Debug\external\boost\boost\bin.v2\libs\program_options\build\msvc-14.1\debug\address-model-64\link-static\runtime-link-static\threading-multi>libboost_program_options-variant-vc141-mt-sgd-x64-1_73-static.cmake...
compile-c-c++ C:\build-sdk-Desktop_Qt_5_11_3_MSVC2017_64bit-Debug\external\boost\boost\bin.v2\libs\regex\build\msvc-14.1\debug\address-model-64\link-static\runtime-link-static\threading-multi\regex.obj

When I run the exact same step, it doesn't fild the file(C:\Users\adhal\AppData\Local\Temp\jam6818c95b4.000). Since it's a temporary file, it's deleted.

Can someone tell me, if I am doing anything wrong ? Is it possible to specify a separate temporary directory for bjam ?

Maybe you should try an older Boost and/or a more recent version of CMake, cf. https://stackoverflow.com/a/42124857/2799037. I haven't check whether CMake 3.17-rc1 support Boost the not yet released 1.73. Maybe you give that a try. — usr1234567, Feb 21 '20 at 10:06
Oh, I missed an important aspect: Your problem seems unrelated to CMake. Does your b2 command work without CMake? Otherwise rephrase and retag your question. — usr1234567, Feb 21 '20 at 10:08
I'm hitting the exact same issue when building boost via CMake ExternalProject_Add just like this. Did you make any progress? — Tansir1, Jun 11 '20 at 15:08

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 18 '20 at 16:05

Got same issue. In my case moving build folder up helped.

Issue check story - tmp .bat file contains

type "C:\Users\amorozov\AppData\Local\Temp\jam43e8891f.000" > "bin.v2\libs\program_options\build\msvc-14.1\debug\address-model-64\link-static\runtime-link-static\threading-multi\libboost_program_options-variant-vc141-mt-sgd-x64-1_73-static.cmake"

Running it from cmake binary dir where build happens fails too. Splitting command to type and dir for target directory succeeds. Writing to file with shorter name succeeds. Checked total filepath length for .cmake file and it's over 256 bytes. It seems as cmd doesn't allow redirecting to really long pathnames. Moving whole project few directories up solved my issue.

If that doesn't help, check your tmp .bat file by running b2 under windbg with breakpoint on kernel32!DeleteFileW. Filename is du poi(@esp+4). Hope that helps.

Later found out win10 can be configured to skip this filename limit. This change https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file?redirectedfrom=MSDN#enable-long-paths-in-windows-10-version-1607-and-later resolves issue too. — Artiom Morozov, Jun 18 '20 at 16:19

boost bjam fails as a cmake external project

1 Answers1