C++ BOOST undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::copy_file

Question

I have no clue why boost::filesystem::copy_file is making trouble for me.

undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::copy_file

// g++ -std=c++11 test.cpp -lboost_filesystem -lboost_system -lrt -lboost_wave #include <boost/filesystem.hpp> int main() { boost::filesystem::create_directory("aaa"); // ok boost::filesystem::copy_file("f1","f2"); // /tmp/ccNWZltB.o: In function `boost::filesystem::copy_file(boost::filesystem::path const&, boost::filesystem::path const&)': // test.cpp:(.text._ZN5boost10filesystem9copy_fileERKNS0_4pathES3_[_ZN5boost10filesystem9copy_fileERKNS0_4pathES3_]+0x26): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::copy_file(boost::filesystem::path const&, boost::filesystem::path const&, boost::filesystem::copy_option, boost::system::error_code*)' // collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status return 0; }

I got no inspiration from the source code of boost or its help:

 inline void copy_file(const path& from, const path& to, // See ticket #2925 BOOST_SCOPED_ENUM(copy_option) option, system::error_code& ec) {detail::copy_file(from, to, option, &ec);}

Even such a simple example does not work for me.

Platform: Linux Ubuntu 64

This answer to the same question provides more detail, stackoverflow.com/a/17988317/5781248 — J.J. Hakala
– J.J. Hakala, Commented Jan 26, 2016 at 4:52

Antonio · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-18 09:46:16Z

20

There is a workaround for this problem, replace

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>

with

#define BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS #include <boost/filesystem.hpp> #undef BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS

Or, preferably, add -DBOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS to your compiler flags

edited Nov 18, 2016 at 9:46

Antonio

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answered Jan 26, 2016 at 4:48

J.J. Hakala

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3 Comments

ar2015 Over a year ago

What to replace with this code? boost/filesystem.hpp is already included.

ildjarn Over a year ago

This is just begging for ODR violations. If you're going to define BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS you need to define it globally.

Voltaire Over a year ago

Definitely use the -DBOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS it makes little sense to use the other method as the boost_filesystem library lacks the scoped enum implementation anyway. Its also easy to miss an include and there may be other boost libraries that use the include. Either way, thanks for the post - it definitely helped.

lukejkw · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-26 13:09:04Z

If you run into this problem make sure to include both -lboost_system and -lboost_filesystem in your call to g++

Example working Makefile

BINARY = output FILE_OBJECTS = main.o fileLoader.o BOOST = -lboost_system -lboost_filesystem GCC = g++ -std=c++17 FLAGS = -Wall -pedantic -Wextra build: $(FILE_OBJECTS) $(GCC) $(FLAGS) $(FILE_OBJECTS) -o $(BINARY) $(BOOST) main.o: main.cpp fileLoader.o $(GCC) $(FLAGS) -c main.cpp fileLoader.o: fileLoader.cpp $(GCC) $(FLAGS) -c fileLoader.cpp clean: rm -rf *.o $(BINARY)

Example working code

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp> void create_data_file(std::string file_path) { boost::filesystem::path p(file_path); boost::filesystem::create_directory(p); }

In case this doesn't work and people don't read the other post adding the flag -DBOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS will work. See J J Hakalas post.
This worked for me! I'm new to g++ under VSCode, and not yet ready to wrestle with the intricacies of makefiles. But on the basis of this post, I just added the two lines "-lboost_system", and "-lboost_filesystem", to file tasks.json (before the "-o", line), and suddenly all my (linker?) error messages have disappeared. So many thanks!
This does not work for me with copy_file() (I already used -lboost_system in front of -lboost_file_system before). The problem arised after using -std=c++11.

Bojack · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-10 11:15:23Z

I could not compile a file that included the header boost/filesystem.hpp either. This is how I solved it: I commented out the line boost/filesystem.hpp and all the lines that were using Boost, and then compiled the file. I then uncommented all the lines in the files and compiled again, and then it worked. I was compiling with the flag -lboost_system both times!

dhyan.nataraj · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-08 21:01:01Z

In older boost versions it is BOOST_NO_SCOPED_ENUMS, not BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS

see boost::filesystem::copy_file() missing symbol in c++11

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