Boost boost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a undefined symbol errors while doing static linking

Question

While trying to link boost program option library statically in my code I am getting below error while linker try to link it.

gmake[1]: Leaving directory `tools'
g++ -rdynamic -g  -o test test.o -Lboost_1_39_0/lib/Linux64//libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a … (other dependent libs)
test.o: In function `basic_config_file_iterator':
 boost_1_39_0/include/Linux64/boost-1_39/boost/program_options/detail/config_file.hpp:147: undefined reference to `boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::common_config_file_iterator(std::set<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::less<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > >, std::allocator<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > > > const&, bool)'
 boost_1_39_0/include/Linux64/boost-1_39/boost/program_options/detail/config_file.hpp:150: undefined reference to `boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::get()'
test.o: In function `boost::eof_iterator<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> >::increment()':
 boost_1_39_0/include/Linux64/boost-1_39/boost/program_options/eof_iterator.hpp:75: undefined reference to `boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::get()'
test.o: In function `boost::program_options::detail::basic_config_file_iterator<char>::getline(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >&)':
 boost_1_39_0/include/Linux64/boost-1_39/boost/program_options/detail/config_file.hpp:163: undefined reference to `boost::program_options::to_internal(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&)'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
gmake: *** [test] Error 1

Also when I did NM over libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a for these function I get below output

$ nm -goC libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a | grep -i common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:00000000000002e0 T boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::add_option(char const*)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000eb0 T boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::get()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::getline(std::string&)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:00000000000007f0 T boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::common_config_file_iterator(std::set<std::string, std::less<std::string>, std::allocator<std::string> > const&, bool)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000b80 T boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::common_config_file_iterator(std::set<std::string, std::less<std::string>, std::allocator<std::string> > const&, bool)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::~common_config_file_iterator()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::~common_config_file_iterator()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000060 T boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::allowed_option(std::string const&) const
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::eof_iterator<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> >
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::iterator_facade<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const, boost::forward_traversal_tag, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const&, long>
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::eof_iterator<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> >
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::iterator_facade<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const, boost::forward_traversal_tag, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const&, long>
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:config_file.o:0000000000000000 V vtable for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:                 U boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::get()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::getline(std::string&)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:                 U boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::common_config_file_iterator(std::set<std::string, std::less<std::string>, std::allocator<std::string> > const&, bool)
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::~common_config_file_iterator()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::~common_config_file_iterator()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 W boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator::~common_config_file_iterator()
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::eof_iterator<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> >
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::iterator_facade<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const, boost::forward_traversal_tag, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const&, long>
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::eof_iterator<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> >
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::iterator_facade<boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const, boost::forward_traversal_tag, boost::program_options::basic_option<char> const&, long>
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V typeinfo name for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator
libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a:parsers.o:0000000000000000 V vtable for boost::program_options::detail::common_config_file_iterator

I don't want a dynamic binding in my test program so any pointers if I am missing any library to be included while doing a linkage.

post your entire link line, it looks to me like you aren't including the static archive correctly. — Sam Miller, Sep 02 '12 at 15:02
Yeah same thing figure out later thanks for providing inputs. — Abhinav, Sep 04 '12 at 09:10
can you answer your own question so others searching for this problem also have a solution? — Sam Miller, Sep 04 '12 at 12:34

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 05 '12 at 14:03

The issue was the way I linking to my program. I was doing as below

g++ -g test.cxx -o test -L/<path>/boost_1_39_0/lib/Linux64//libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a

whereas we need to do as below

g++ -g test.cxx -o test /<path>/boost_1_39_0/lib/Linux64//libboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a

This will resolve the issue.

-Abhinav

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 28 '13 at 18:32

You are using the compiler switch -L wrong. Within gcc -L is used to specify which directories to search for a library. However this means that if you don't specify the library name after the additional flag -l it won't be able to link that library to form the executable that you want.

So, in this case, you would do something like:

g++ -g test.cxx -o test -L/<path>/boost_1_39_0/lib/Linux64/ -lboost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39

Boost boost_program_options-gcc41-mt-1_39.a undefined symbol errors while doing static linking

2 Answers2