Installing C++ Boost library on Windows without Visual Studio

Question

I would like to install Boost library without the need of Visual Studio compiler, preferably by downloading the pre-compiled binaries. We are working on a cross-platform C++ project in Eclipse, so VS is out of option.

About a year ago, I found an installer, but it does not longer exists. The best match I have found so far is from: http://www.boostpro.com/download/ but it seems like this one includes a lot of stuff related to VS.

If there is no installer available, is there an easy way of compiling it like the on *NIX platforms?

(I know that the majority of the library is header-only, but I would like some parts which are not)

Answer 1

Whichever toolchain that you are going to use on Windows, you can use that toolchain to compile Boost easily.

For example, if you use Eclipse CDT for C++ on Windows, you can use either MinGW or Cygwin toolchain. Then simply start the command prompt that has those toolchains (make, gcc, ...) in your path. Go to the Boost folder you downloaded. Run the bootstrap file to generate bjam. Then run bjam.

On a side note, if you want a cross-platform C++ project, you don't have to use a cross-platform IDE. You can use CMake as your build generator and then use any IDE you want.

Answer 2

One option is to get the full Boost source and then compile your own application to statically link in everything from Boost. If you manage to do this correctly, there will be no need to bundle the Boost binaries on any platform.