(C++) cannot find -lboost\_filesystem (from i586-mingw32msvc-g++)

February 24, 2017 · View on GitHub

(C++) cannot find -lboost_filesystem (from i586-mingw32msvc-g++)

Link error (BEI 4) I encountered while busy solving How to cross-compile a Qt Creator project from Ubuntu to a windows executable: example 3: console application with a Boost library.

Download the source code of 'CppCompileErrorBoostFilesystemHppNoSuchFileOrDirectory' (zip)

System specifics

Operating system: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx

IDE: gedit

Source code: main.cpp

#include <iostream> #include <string> #include <vector> //--------------------------------------------------------------------------- #include <boost/filesystem.hpp> //--------------------------------------------------------------------------- //From http://www.richelbilderbeek.nl/CppGetFilesInFolder.htm const std::vector<std::string> GetFilesInFolder(const std::string& folder) { std::vector<std::string> v; const boost::filesystem::path my_folder = boost::filesystem::system_complete( boost::filesystem::path(folder)); if (!boost::filesystem::is_directory(my_folder)) return v; const boost::filesystem::directory_iterator j; for ( boost::filesystem::directory_iterator i(my_folder); i != j; ++i) { if ( boost::filesystem::is_regular_file( i->status() ) ) { const std::string filename = i->path().filename(); //const std::string full_filename = folder + "/" + filename; v.push_back(filename); } } return v; } //--------------------------------------------------------------------------- //From http://www.richelbilderbeek.nl/CppGetPath.htm const std::string GetPath(const std::string& filename) { return boost::filesystem::path(filename).parent_path().string(); } //--------------------------------------------------------------------------- int main(int, char* argv[]) { const std::vector<std::string> v = GetFilesInFolder(GetPath(argv[0])); std::copy(v.begin(),v.end(),std::ostream_iterator<std::string>(std::cout,"\n")); std::cout << "Number of files: " << v.size() << '\n'; } //---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Process

Because I was trying to solve the Qt FAQ How to cross-compile a Qt Creator project from Ubuntu to a windows executable?, I compiled the code as follows:

`i586-mingw32msvc-g++ -o MyWin.exe main.cpp -I/usr/i586-mingw32msvc/include -L/usr/local/lib -lboost_filesystem`

This resulted in the following screen output:

`/usr/lib/gcc/i586-mingw32msvc/4.2.1-sjlj/../../../../i586-mingw32msvc/bin/ld: cannot find -lboost_filesystem`

The output was right: the Boost libraries are stored in '/usr/lib', so I changed the shell command to:

`i586-mingw32msvc-g++ -o MyWin.exe main.cpp -I/usr/i586-mingw32msvc/include -L/usr/lib -lboost_filesystem`

This results in the following screen output:

/tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x138): undefined reference to 'boost::system::get_system_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x142): undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x14c): undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x156): undefined reference to `boost::system::get_generic_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x160): undefined reference to `boost::system::get_system_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost6system10error_codeC1Ev[boost::system::error_code::error_code()]+0x10): undefined reference to `boost::system::get_system_category()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem15system_completeINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEEENS_9enable_ifINS0_13is_basic_pathIT_EES7_E4typeERKS7_[boost::enable_if<boost::filesystem::is_basic_path<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >, boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >::type boost::filesystem::system_complete<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >(boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> const&)]+0xae): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::get_full_path_name_api(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >&)' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem12is_directoryINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEEENS_9enable_ifINS0_13is_basic_pathIT_EEbE4typeERKS7_[boost::enable_if<boost::filesystem::is_basic_path<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >, bool>::type boost::filesystem::is_directory<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >(boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> const&)]+0x77): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::status_api(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, boost::system::error_code&)' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem6statusINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEEENS_9enable_ifINS0_13is_basic_pathIT_EENS0_11file_statusEE4typeERKS7_[boost::enable_if<boost::filesystem::is_basic_path<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >, boost::filesystem::file_status>::type boost::filesystem::status<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >(boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> const&)]+0x77): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::status_api(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, boost::system::error_code&)' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem6detail11dir_itr_impINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEED1Ev[boost::filesystem::detail::dir_itr_imp<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >::~dir_itr_imp()]+0x4b): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::dir_itr_close(void&)' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem24basic_directory_iteratorINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEE9incrementEv[boost::filesystem::basic_directory_iterator<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >::increment()]+0x103): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::dir_itr_increment(void&, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >&, boost::filesystem::file_status&, boost::filesystem::file_status&)' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem24basic_directory_iteratorINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEE6m_initERKS4_[boost::filesystem::basic_directory_iterator<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >::m_init(boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> const&)]+0x65): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::not_found_error()' /tmp/ccUkpKJv.o:main.cpp:(.text$_ZN5boost10filesystem24basic_directory_iteratorINS0_10basic_pathISsNS0_11path_traitsEEEE6m_initERKS4_[boost::filesystem::basic_directory_iterator<boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> >::m_init(boost::filesystem::basic_path<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, boost::filesystem::path_traits> const&)]+0xf3): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::dir_itr_first(void*&, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >&, boost::filesystem::file_status&, boost::filesystem::file_status&)'

Go to Undefined reference to 'boost::system::get_system_category()' (using MinGW) to (try to) solve this error.