How to Successfully Link a C Program with Boost Using CMake?

Linking C Program with Boost Using CMake

This guide addresses the issue of linking a C program with the Boost library using CMake. When attempting to link the program, users may encounter errors such as "undefined reference to `boost::program_options::options_description::m_default_line_length'".

CMake Configuration for Linking

To resolve this issue, modify the CMake file to incorporate the following lines:

find_package(Boost 1.40 COMPONENTS program_options REQUIRED)
include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})

add_executable(my_target_file main.cpp)

target_link_libraries(my_target_file LINK_PUBLIC ${Boost_LIBRARIES})

Explanation of the Code

• find_package(Boost): Finds the Boost library and its components, in this case program_options.
• include_directories(): Adds the Boost include directory to the search path.
• add_executable(): Creates an executable file named my_target_file from the main.cpp source file.
• target_link_libraries(): Links the Boost library to the executable.

Alternative Approach

If the find_package method fails, you can manually specify the Boost library path and name, as seen below:

include_directories(/path/to/Boost/include)

target_link_libraries(my_target_file ${Boost_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_LIBRARY})

Additional Resources

• [Official CMake Documentation for FindBoost](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.21/module/FindBoost.html)
• [FindBoost.cmake Source Code on GitHub](https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/blob/master/Modules/FindBoost.cmake)

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