./Configure for non-boost ASIO

Question

I take a look inside the asio folder there are

• asio.manifest
• autogen.sh
• boost_asio.manifest
• boostify.pl
• configure.ac
• include/
• INSTALL
• src/ (there are asio_ssl.cpp and asio.cpp)

I didn't see any configure script where I can execute. How do I build this asio? I read asio is a header only library.

So, what I can make out of those files in the asio folder?

Answer 1

If you got it from a tarball, you should already have a configure script ready to be executed. If you checked from the repository, you probably need to run ./autogen.sh to generate the configure script for you, using configure.ac as input.

The convention is:

• ./bootstrap : it invokes autoconf to process configure.ac and spit out configure . Often it also invokes automake to process all Makefile.am files and turn them into Makefile.in . Many moons ago, the name autogen.sh was used instead of bootstrap . And configure.in was used instead of configure.ac .

• ./configure : detects everything on the system and creates config.status , then executes it.

• ./config.status : processes all *.in files into versions without the .in suffix. That includes Makefile.in -> Makefile . You don't have to run this script by hand.

• INSTALL : this SHOULD contain build instructions, such as "run ./autogen.sh if you checked out a copy from the repository". Shame on the ASIO developers, they just point the user to look for a non-existing "doc" directory.

You need autoconf (and friends) installed to transform configure.ac into configure . Once that is done, the build system becomes self-contained. That is, you can do a make dist-gzip to pack all the sources (and the configure script), transfer the tar.gz it to another system, and follow from the ./configure step, even if autoconf is not installed there.

Answer 2

So, Here are the steps I've followed just now.

1. I went to http://think-async.com , which is the website that hosts the non-boost asio.
2. Their download link led me to sourceforge, and version 1.4.8 of the software.
3. I then extracted the folder, and looking inside, I see the usual layout.
4. So the following steps include ./configure , make , and probably sudo make install .