id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc
1055	boost build system uses wrong `ar` for cross compilation.	pluto@…	Vladimir Prus	"for cross compilation i'm using a custom user-config.jam like this:

import toolset : using ;
using gcc : 4.1 : x86_64-gnu-linux-g++ ;

with such config the boost build system always uses hardcoded `ar`
for creating archives which can create wrong archive in some cases.
i have a RHEL4(i686) builder with old preinstalled toolchain:
gcc-3.4.5-2, binutils-2.15.92.0.2-18. on this machine i'm building
boost for i486, x86_64, sparc and sparc64 with custom toolchain
based on gcc-4.1.x and binutils-2.17.50.0.12.

boost uses system-wide `ar` which creates different archive than
$crosstarget-ar and finally breaks linking of the custom application.

example, libboost_filesystem for x86_64 target:

$ pwd
/local/devel/buildenv41-src/boost_1_34_0/bin.v2/libs/filesystem/build/gcc-4.1/release/inlining-on/link-static/threading-multi

$ rm *.a
$ ar rc x.a *.o                    <- boost uses this.
$ x86_64-gnu-linux-ar rc y.a *.o   <- i want this.
$ ls -l *.a

103670 Jun 16 09:41 x.a
114776 Jun 16 09:41 y.a

the library created by boost can't be used with my cross toolchain anymore:

x86_64-gnu-linux-g++ x.a
x.a: could not read symbols: Archive has no index; run ranlib to add one
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

while the other one works fine:

x86_64-gnu-linux-g++ y.a
/local/devel/toolchain41/x86_64-gnu-linux/usr/lib/../lib64/crt1.o: In function `_start':
(.text+0x20): undefined reference to `main'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
"	Bugs	closed	To Be Determined	Building Boost		Showstopper	fixed