boost

boost contains sorts of functions, including uuid.

installation

Linux

Prerequisite: python3-dev:

apt-get install -y python3-dev

If there is no python3-dev installed, it will show the following error in one of the following steps:

fatal error: pyconfig.h: No such file or directory

After the installation, we can check if pyconfig.h exists or not by:

find /usr -name pyconfig.h

First download boost_1_xx_0.tar.gz from https://www.boost.org/users/history/, and unzip it.

Check what libraries boost contains. Or go to boost libraries.

./bootstrap.sh --show-libraries

Bootstrap, specify the libraries you want to install:

./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=system
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=thread
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=chrono
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=date_time
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=filesystem
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=iostreams
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5539557/boost-and-python-3-x
# without the "--with-python-version" flag, it could find python2 rather than python3
# recommended installing with python3
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=<boost_installation_dir> --with-libraries=python --with-python-version=3.5

Note that system, filesystem, thread, date_time, iostreams are required by pcl(they can be concanated with , in the above command).

Finally install:

./b2 install

Windows

Download boost_1_xx_0.zip and unzip it to C:\Program Files\Boost\boost_1_xx_0 or C:\Program Files (x86)\Boost\boost_1_xx_0 and then in that directory, open Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019, run it as Administrator:

bootstrap.bat
.\b2

Then in C:\Program Files\Boost\boost_1_xx_0\stage\lib or C:\Program Files (x86)\Boost\boost_1_xx_0\stage\lib there will be libraries looking like libboost_xxx-x64-1_xx.lib or libboost_xxx-x32-1_xx.lib.

use it in another project

In CMakeLists.txt(adopted from https://github.com/ipkn/crow/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt):

# <boost_installation_dir> is the argument passed to prefix when using bootstrap.sh
#set(Boost_INCLUDE_DIR <boost_installation_dir>/include) #this is useless

link_directories(<boost_installation_dir>/lib)
link_libraries(boost_system boost_thread) # to replace find_package( Boost 1.52 COMPONENTS system thread REQUIRED ) 

if (MSVC)
        set(Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS "On")
        find_package( Boost 1.52 COMPONENTS system thread regex REQUIRED )
else()
        set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall -std=c++1y -pedantic -Wextra")
        #find_package( Boost 1.52 COMPONENTS system thread REQUIRED ) # this fails, so use the following line and also link_libraries(boost_system boost_thread)
        find_package( Boost 1.52 COMPONENTS REQUIRED )
endif()

message("Boost_INCLUDE_DIR ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR}")
include_directories( ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR} )

or

#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3016448/how-can-i-get-cmake-to-find-my-alternative-boost-installation
#these could be helpful when boost isn't installed in the default location
#set(BOOST_ROOT <boost_installation_dir>)
#set(BOOST_LIBRARYDIR <boost_installation_dir>/lib)

find_package(Boost REQUIRED log COMPONENTS system thread)
message(STATUS "Boost library status:")
message(STATUS "    version: ${Boost_VERSION}")
message(STATUS "    libraries: ${Boost_LIBRARIES}")
message(STATUS "    include path: ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS}")

add_definitions(-DBOOST_LOG_DYN_LINK)
include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})

target_link_libraries(<exe_name> ${Boost_LIBRARIES})

From How can I get CMake to find my alternative Boost installation?, we can set BOOST_ROOT so that cmake can find boost from custom installation directory.

Warning: Imported targets not available for Boost version 107100

When coming to:

FIND_PACKAGE(Boost xxx)

If there is following warning:

CMake Warning at /usr/share/cmake-3.5/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:725 (message):
  Imported targets not available for Boost version 107100
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  /usr/share/cmake-3.5/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:763 (_Boost_COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES)
  /usr/share/cmake-3.5/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1332 (_Boost_MISSING_DEPENDENCIES)
  CMakeLists.txt:54 (FIND_PACKAGE)

It means the cmake used to build the project is too old, one needs to update cmake version according to CMake finds Boost but the imported targets not available for Boost version.

Could not find the following Boost libraries: boost_python

When coming to:

FIND_PACKAGE(Boost REQUIRED python)

If there is following error:

CMake Error at /usr/share/cmake-3.5/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1677 (message):
  Unable to find the requested Boost libraries.

  Boost version: 1.71.0

  Boost include path: /workspace/data/installation/boost_1_71_0/include

  Could not find the following Boost libraries:

          boost_python

  No Boost libraries were found.  You may need to set BOOST_LIBRARYDIR to the
  directory containing Boost libraries or BOOST_ROOT to the location of
  Boost.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:53 (FIND_PACKAGE)

or:

CMake Error at /usr/local/share/cmake-3.16/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:146 (message):
  Could NOT find Boost (missing: python) (found version "1.71.0")
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  /usr/local/share/cmake-3.16/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:393 (_FPHSA_FAILURE_MESSAGE)
  /usr/local/share/cmake-3.16/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:2179 (find_package_handle_standard_args)
  CMakeLists.txt:55 (find_package)

One needs to specify python version by changing FIND_PACKAGE(Boost REQUIRED python) to FIND_PACKAGE(Boost REQUIRED python35) according to Cmake could not find boost_python.