How to link C++ program with Boost using CMake

Question

What should my CMake file look like for linking my program with the Boost library under Ubuntu?

The errors shown during running make:

main.cpp:(.text+0x3b): undefined reference to `boost::program_options::options_description::m_default_line_length'

The main file is really simple:

#include <boost/program_options/options_description.hpp>
#include <boost/program_options/option.hpp>
using namespace std;
#include <iostream>

namespace po = boost::program_options;

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

    po::options_description desc("Allowed options");
    desc.add_options()
        ("help", "produce help message")
        ;

    return 0;
}

---

I've managed to do that. The only lines that I've added to my CMake files were:

target_link_libraries(
my_target_file
${Boost_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIBRARY}
)

Answer 1

In CMake you could use find_package to find libraries you need. There usually is a FindBoost.cmake along with your CMake installation.

As far as I remember, it will be installed to /usr/share/cmake/Modules/ along with other find-scripts for common libraries. You could just check the documentation in that file for more information about how it works.

An example out of my head:

FIND_PACKAGE( Boost 1.40 COMPONENTS program_options REQUIRED )
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR} )

ADD_EXECUTABLE( anyExecutable myMain.cpp )

TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES( anyExecutable LINK_PUBLIC ${Boost_LIBRARIES} )

I hope this code helps.

• Here's the official documentation about FindBoost.cmake.
• And the actual FindBoost.cmake (hosted on GitHub)