How can I work with filenames with spaces in bjam?

Question

I need to describe an external library in a Jamfile. The location of the library is held in an environment variable.

set EX_LIB_PATH=C:\Program Files\Ext

Here is the snippet from the Jamfile:

--snip--

lib extlin : : <file>$(EXT_LIB_PATH)/lib/library.lib ;

--spin--

bjam croaks saying that "C:\Program" cannot be found. What can be done to get the lib rule call in the Jamfile to accept a path with an embedded space?

Answer 1

Did you try putting it in quotes?

lib extlin : : <file>"$(EXT_LIB_PATH)/lib/library.lib" ;

It's a question of when, exactly, bjam expands the variable name, and if something else further down the line has a problem with a filename with spaces. But I believe this should work.