How to build boost with zlib support?

Question

I'm trying to build Boost C++ libraries version 1.65.1 on Windows with zlib support. I'm using zlib library from Conan package with zlib which I built previously. I'm trying to understand the right steps for building boost with zlib support to use them for creating Conan recipe for boost. I tried to follow the instructions from the official boost documentation. I set the environment variables ZLIB_LIBRARY_PATH, ZLIB_NAME, and ZLIB_INCLUDE the following way:

set ZLIB_LIBRARY_PATH=C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\lib
set ZLIB_NAME=zlibstat
set ZLIB_INCLUDE=C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\include

and the build command is:

.\b2.exe -j8 --prefix="C:\work\test_builds\boost\install\x64_shared_release" --build-dir="C:\work\test_builds\boost\build\x64_shared_release" --layout=system architecture=x86 address-model=64 toolset=msvc variant=release debug-symbols=on link=shared threading=multi runtime-link=shared install

The result was:

 - zlib                     : no  (cached)

I also tried to clear boost build cash between runs.

After this I tried to set the environment variables directly from the b2 build command:

.\b2.exe -j8 -sZLIB_LIBRARY_PATH="C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\lib"-sZLIB_NAME="zlibstat" -sZLIB_INCLUDE="C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\include" --prefix="C:\work\test_builds\boost\install\x64_shared_release" --build-dir="C:\work\test_builds\boost\build\x64_shared_release" --layout=system architecture=x86 address-model=64 toolset=msvc variant=release debug-symbols=on link=shared threading=multi runtime-link=shared install

The result was the same.

Finally I tried adding the options into project-config.jam file the following way:

using zlib : 1.2.11 : <search>C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\lib <name>zlibstat <include>C:\Users\ivan.bobev\.conan\data\zlib\1.2.11\igsoft\stable\package\63da998e3642b50bee33f4449826b2d623661505\include ;

Again I have no success.

In the zlib include folder there is subfolder zlib. I also tried the 3 variants from above setting the path as "../include/zlib". No success again.

How to build Boost with zlib support using my pre-built Conan package with zlib?

Answer 1

The project-config.jam patch is ok, and actually, is working in Linux and OSX. In Windows you need to replace the "\" characters (escape char in jam language) with "/".

You can see my updated Conan recipe for Boost 1.64.0 here