waf: how to use extra tools and how to distribute project?

Question

I am using waf in windows and I cannot figure out how to use the boost tool.

I tried waf update , but it says the following:

Could not find the tool in the remote repository 'update' finished successfully (0.597s)

1. How can I use the boost tool (or any) in extras?
2. How should I distribute my project? I saw waf-light --tools=compat15,boost and things like that.

Answer 1

1) In the Waf Book you can find different examples of this.

Under section "3.2.2. Loading and using Waf tools", you'll see that they load the tool 'dang.py' from a folder '.' by using:

def configure(ctx):
     ctx.load('dang', tooldir='.')

When it loads dang.py it will also call the 'configure' function inside it. Same goes for 'options', 'build' etc.

Another example is using the extras ("11.1.2. Build visualization"):

def configure(ctx):
    ctx.load('parallel_debug', tooldir='waf-1.7.13/waflib/extras')

2) When distributing, I always use vanilla waf, and instead provide the wscripts and tools files.

But if you do run that command line:

waf-light --tools=compat15,boost

you'll get a waf executable that has the tools built in. You can distribute that exe if I understand it correctly.

Note that you still need to load the tools as usual

ctx.load('boost')

Answer 2

In order to use the boost tool, this is the way to go:

waf update --files=boost

That will upload the extra tool boost.