how to quickly debug C++ include file problems

Question

Very often we encounter this kind of issues like below:

1>Compiling...
1>a.cpp
1>c:\apps\b.h(22) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'boost/shared_ptr.hpp': No such file or directory

Sometimes it could be tedious as there a many include files and even nested include files in a big project.

What is the best way to trace / which include file is the culprit(parent) that include the problematic include file?

The problem is it has nested include, so will need to spend some effort before able to tell which file actually include b.h.

Er, what? Did you read that error? It clearly states where the include happens. — Cat Plus Plus, Aug 08 '11 at 07:55
An approach would be to make sure the files are there in first place. If you install a library, there should be no reason as to why certain include file should be missing. — Shamim Hafiz - MSFT, Aug 08 '11 at 07:55

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

4

Looks like you're on Windows (thus maybe using Microsoft C/C++ compiler). In that case you can use the /showIncludes Option. Also see this SO answer.

This allows you to "visually" see which header file includes which, giving you some more information.

Update: Apparently GCC has some similar options.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

answered Aug 08 '11 at 07:59

Christian.K

The link /showincludes link above is broken. Here is a working one: [link](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/showincludes-list-include-files?view=msvc-170) – user1235183 Sep 28 '22 at 08:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 08 '11 at 07:58

0

Autotools has this feature. You can check whether certain header files are present or not.. I'm sure other build tools have similar features...

answered Aug 08 '11 at 07:58

duedl0r

2 Answers2