Why do I need to compile DateTime in boost if I am not using to_string or from_string?

Answer 1

Possibly you are including a "wrong" header that is triggering the compiler to link with the lib, even though you don't need it. Search for a #pragma comment(lib, ...) in the boost headers to find out if that is the case.

Answer 2

boost comes with a tool called bcp that can be used to extract exactly the subset you need. take a look, sounds like you will find it helpful.

Answer 3

Project compiles and links cleanly after the following troubleshooting:

I defined BOOST_LIB_DIAGNOSTIC - to see what diagnostic output I could get from the auto linker. Not too informative:

1>Linking to lib file: libboost_date_time-vc80-mt-1_42.lib
1>LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'libboost_date_time-vc80-mt-1_42.lib'

I then defined BOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 - disables all auto linking. Project now compiles and links cleanly.

Boost headers use pragma to signal compilers when to look for a lib file. While the date_time library does not do this, other headers within boost it depends on do.