Question

I’m trying to utilize Boost.Test in Visual Studio 2010, and I’m having some trouble getting it to work. Here’s the source:

#include "stdafx.hpp"

#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE (main)
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(morphology)
{
    BOOST_CHECK(true);
}

stdafx.hpp is literally empty. The project was created as an empty C++ project, set to build an application, with directories set up to point to boost headers and libs. I’m using /entry to point to the main function provided by Boost.Test.

There seem to be a couple of things going on. Firstly, at build time, the linker reports warnings over all the objects in the test lib, claiming “.CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators”:

1>msvcprtd.lib(locale0_implib.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>morphology.obj : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(unit_test_main.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(framework.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(test_tools.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(unit_test_log.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(unit_test_suite.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(results_reporter.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(results_collector.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(unit_test_parameters.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(unit_test_monitor.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(debug.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(progress_monitor.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(plain_report_formatter.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators
1>libboost_unit_test_framework-vc100-mt-gd-1_49.lib(xml_report_formatter.obj) : warning LNK4210: .CRT section exists; there may be unhandled static initializers or terminators

Art runtime, the test application crashes somewhere in the Boost.Test library under the call tree of the main provided by Boost.Test:

>   Pentachoron.Test.exe!std::list<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter>,std::allocator<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter> > >::begin()  Line 787 + 0x13 bytes   C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::for_each::begin<std::list<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter>,std::allocator<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter> > > >(const std::list<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter>,std::allocator<boost::shared_ptr<boost::runtime::cla::parameter> > > & t, boost::mpl::bool_<1> __formal)  Line 107 + 0xf bytes  C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::runtime::cla::parser::operator[](boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const > string_id)  Line 169 + 0x41 bytes C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::runtime_config::`anonymous namespace'::retrieve_parameter<std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > >(boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const > parameter_name, const boost::runtime::cla::parser & s_cla_parser, const std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > & default_value, const std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > & optional_value)  Line 216 + 0x34 bytes  C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::runtime_config::report_sink()  Line 470 + 0x8b bytes C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::results_reporter::`anonymous namespace'::results_reporter_impl::results_reporter_impl()  Line 59 + 0x31 bytes    C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::results_reporter::`anonymous namespace'::s_rr_impl()  Line 91 + 0x35 bytes   C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::results_reporter::get_stream()  Line 120 + 0x5 bytes C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!`boost::unit_test::unit_test_main'::`1'::catch$3()  Line 207 + 0x5 bytes   C++
    msvcr100d.dll!_CallSettingFrame()  Line 44  Asm
    msvcr100d.dll!__CxxCallCatchBlock(_EXCEPTION_RECORD * pExcept)  Line 1337 + 0x15 bytes  C++
    ntdll.dll!0000000077c50c21()    
    [Frames below may be incorrect and/or missing, no symbols loaded for ntdll.dll] 
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!boost::unit_test::unit_test_main(boost::unit_test::test_suite * (int, char * *)* init_func, int argc, char * * argv)  Line 179 C++
    Pentachoron.Test.exe!main(int argc, char * * argv)  Line 238    C++
    kernel32.dll!000000007753652d()     
    ntdll.dll!0000000077c2c521()    

Please….someone tell me there’s just a compiler flag I didn’t set, or something stupid like that…

Answer 1

Alright, I got it figured out. The problem was caused by me setting /entry to point directly to main, which bypasses all the static object constructors and runtime intialization. Once I set the /subsystem:console option and just let the compiler set up the runtime correctly and call the main function supplied by Boost.Test, it worked as expected.

What a hassle.

The /subsystem:console parameter is for the MSVC linker. To configure this, right-click your project, go to Linker|Command Line , and add /subsystem:console to Additional Options at the bottom of the dialog. (VS2013)