Question

I’m programming for an embedded device with a NVIDIA Tegra 2 running Windows Embedded Compact 7. My development environment is Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The boost library and especially the boost-asio package seems to be very helpfull for my needs. Unfortunately I was not able to find a good guide on how to get boost running on Windows Embedded Compact 7. I’d prefere to get .lib files which I can link statically into my application.

Answer 1

It appears that the documentation on this process is sparse, because it requires non-trivial updates to the build process to get working with Windows CE. The most comprehensive tutorial to this problem appears to be here.

Since you explicitly tagged this boost-asio, I also looked into that component of Boost specifically. Here’s a thread from the Boost mailing list that covers this library in detail, including potential failure cases you may experience, JAM file modifications, and a batch file to help you with the build.*

For those reading this: please share your experiences once you get this working. Despite various concerns that Boost is too memory-heavy for embedded applications, Boost provides the ability to use separate packages to meet your needs. I expect other users on SO will be very interested in your experiences getting this working.

---

 * Because people have been expressing problems with the referenced batch file disappearing when Nabble links expire, here’s a pastedump for posterity:

@SET VCINSTALLDIR=%VS9INSTALLDIR%\VC 
@if "%VS9INSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VSINSTALLDIR 
@if "%VCINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VCINSTALLDIR 

@echo Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 tools for WM5. 
@set TARGETCPU=X86 

@call :GetWindowsSdkDir 

@if not "%WindowsSdkDir%" == "" ( 
        set "PATH=%WindowsSdkDir%bin;%PATH%" 
) 

@rem 
@rem Root of Visual Studio IDE installed files. 
@rem 
@set DevEnvDir=%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common7\IDE 

@set PATH=%VCINSTALLDIR%\CE\bin\x86_arm;%VCINSTALLDIR%\bin;%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common7\Tools;%DevEnvDir%;%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common\Tools;%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common\IDE;%VS9INSTALLDIR%;%PATH% 
@set INCLUDE=%STLPORT_PATH%\STLPort-5.2.1\stlport;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ce\include;%CETOOLS%\Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK\include\ARMV4I;%CETOOLS%\Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK\include;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ce\atlmfc\include 
@set LIB=%STLPORT_PATH%\STLPort-5.2.1\lib\evc9-arm;%CETOOLS%\Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK\lib\ARMV4I;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ce\ATLMFC\LIB\ARMV4I;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ce\LIB\ARMV4I 
@set LIBPATH= 

@goto end 

:GetWindowsSdkDir 
@call :GetWindowsSdkDirHelper HKLM > nul 2>&1 
@if errorlevel 1 call :GetWindowsSdkDirHelper HKCU > nul 2>&1 
@if errorlevel 1 set WindowsSdkDir=%VCINSTALLDIR%\PlatformSDK\ 
@exit /B 0 

:GetWindowsSdkDirHelper 
@for /F "tokens=1,2*" %%i in ('reg query "%1\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows" /v "CurrentInstallFolder"') DO ( 
        if "%%i"=="CurrentInstallFolder" ( 
                SET "WindowsSdkDir=%%k" 
        ) 
) 
@if "%WindowsSdkDir%"=="" exit /B 1 
@exit /B 0 


:error_no_VSINSTALLDIR 
@echo ERROR: VS9INSTALLDIR variable is not set. 
@goto end 

:error_no_VCINSTALLDIR 
@echo ERROR: VCINSTALLDIR variable is not set. 
@goto end 

:end 

@SET VCINSTALLDIR=%VS9INSTALLDIR%\VC 
@SET FrameworkDir=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework 
@SET FrameworkVersion=v2.0.50727 
@SET Framework35Version=v3.5 
@if "%VS9INSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VSINSTALLDIR 
@if "%VCINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VCINSTALLDIR 

@echo Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 x86 tools with STLport-5.2.1. 

@call :GetWindowsSdkDir 

@if not "%WindowsSdkDir%" == "" ( 
        set "PATH=%WindowsSdkDir%bin;%PATH%" 
        set "INCLUDE=%WindowsSdkDir%include;%INCLUDE%" 
        set "LIB=%WindowsSdkDir%lib;%LIB%" 
) 


@rem 
@rem Root of Visual Studio IDE installed files. 
@rem 
@set DevEnvDir=%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common7\IDE 

@set PATH=%DevEnvDir%;%VCINSTALLDIR%\BIN;%VS9INSTALLDIR%\Common7\Tools;%FrameworkDir%\%Framework35Version%;%FrameworkDir%\%FrameworkVersion%;%VCINSTALLDIR%\VCPackages;%PATH% 
@set INCLUDE=%STLPORT_PATH%\STLport-5.2.1\stlport;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ATLMFC\INCLUDE;%VCINSTALLDIR%\INCLUDE;%INCLUDE% 
@set LIB=%STLPORT_PATH%\STLport-5.2.1\lib\vc9;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ATLMFC\LIB;%VCINSTALLDIR%\LIB;%LIB% 
@set LIBPATH=%FrameworkDir%\%Framework35Version%;%FrameworkDir%\%FrameworkVersion%;%VCINSTALLDIR%\ATLMFC\LIB;%VCINSTALLDIR%\LIB;%LIBPATH% 

@goto end 

:GetWindowsSdkDir 
@call :GetWindowsSdkDirHelper HKLM > nul 2>&1 
@if errorlevel 1 call :GetWindowsSdkDirHelper HKCU > nul 2>&1 
@if errorlevel 1 set WindowsSdkDir=%VCINSTALLDIR%\PlatformSDK\ 
@exit /B 0 

:GetWindowsSdkDirHelper 
@for /F "tokens=1,2*" %%i in ('reg query "%1\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows" /v "CurrentInstallFolder"') DO ( 
        if "%%i"=="CurrentInstallFolder" ( 
                SET "WindowsSdkDir=%%k" 
        ) 
) 
@if "%WindowsSdkDir%"=="" exit /B 1 
@exit /B 0 

:error_no_VSINSTALLDIR 
@echo ERROR: VSINSTALLDIR variable is not set. 
@goto end 

:error_no_VCINSTALLDIR 
@echo ERROR: VCINSTALLDIR variable is not set. 
@goto end 

:end