How to link C++ program with Boost using CMake

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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}
)
cmake boost c++
6 Answers

Two ways, using system default install path, usually /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:

find_package(Boost REQUIRED regex date_time system filesystem thread graph)
include_directories(${BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS})
message("boost lib: ${Boost_LIBRARIES}")
message("boost inc:${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR}")

add_executable(use_boost use_boost.cpp)
target_link_libraries(use_boost
        ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
        )

If you install Boost in a local directory or choose local install instead of system install, you can do it by this:

set( BOOST_ROOT "/home/xy/boost_install/lib/" CACHE PATH "Boost library path" )
set( Boost_NO_SYSTEM_PATHS on CACHE BOOL "Do not search system for Boost" )

find_package(Boost REQUIRED regex date_time system filesystem thread graph)
include_directories(${BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS})
message("boost lib: ${Boost_LIBRARIES}, inc:${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR}")

add_executable(use_boost use_boost.cpp)
target_link_libraries(use_boost
        ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
        )

Note the above dir /home/xy/boost_install/lib/ is where I install Boost:

xy@xy:~/boost_install/lib$ ll -th
total 16K
drwxrwxr-x 2 xy xy 4.0K May 28 19:23 lib/
drwxrwxr-x 3 xy xy 4.0K May 28 19:22 include/

xy@xy:~/boost_install/lib$ ll -th lib/
total 57M
drwxrwxr-x 2 xy xy 4.0K May 28 19:23 ./
-rw-rw-r-- 1 xy xy 2.3M May 28 19:23 libboost_test_exec_monitor.a
-rw-rw-r-- 1 xy xy 2.2M May 28 19:23 libboost_unit_test_framework.a
.......

xy@xy:~/boost_install/lib$ ll -th include/
total 20K
drwxrwxr-x 110 xy xy  12K May 28 19:22 boost/

If you are interested in how to use a local installed Boost, you can see this question How can I get CMake to find my alternative Boost installation?.

user_63290060

Here is my take: 

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)

project(TryOuts LANGUAGES CXX)

find_package(Boost QUIET REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)

if(NOT Boost_FOUND)
    message(FATAL_ERROR "Boost Not found")
endif()

add_executable(helloworld main.cpp)

target_link_libraries(helloworld PUBLIC Boost::program_options)
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