Download and install Boost

Install Boost in GitHub actions using prebuilt binaries.

Inputs

boost_version

Required The boost version to install, e.g. 1.73.0. A list of supported versions can be found here. If you need a specific (unlisted) version, open a new issue here, requesting the required version.

platform_version

Optional The platform version of the system boost was compiled on, e.g. 18.04 for ubuntu-18.04, 2016 for windows-2016 or 10.15 for macos-10.15. Supported values are 2016 (windows, until boost v1.78.0), 2019 (windows), 2022 (windows), 18.04 (ubuntu), 20.04 (ubuntu), 10.15 (macOs), 11 (macOs). You maybe want to set this as a version will be selected at random if unset and may cause issues.

boost_install_dir

Optional The directory to install boost into. If specified, boost will be installed into $boost_install_dir/boost/boost/. The default value is ${{github.workspace}}.

version

Optional The version of the install-boost action to use. Must be either default or legacy. Defaults to default. If the default version is used, the binaries are downloaded from MarkusJx/prebuilt-boost. The list of supported toolsets and versions can be found here. If the legacy version is used, the binaries are downloaded from actions/boost-versions. The list of supported toolsets and versions can be found here.

toolset

Optional A toolset used to compile boost, e.g. msvc. May be one of msvc (windows), mingw (windows), gcc (linux) or clang (macOs). You maybe want to set this on windows (when boost version is >= 1.78.0) as either mingw or msvc will be selected at random which may cause your build to fail. Selecting this is only supported for boost versions 1.78.0 and higher with the new version of this action or any version with the legacy versions. Please refer to the provided version manifests for further information.

link

Optional Whether the boost libraries will be supplied through static or shared libraries. May be one of static, shared or static+shared for both static and shared libraries to be supplied. Is only effective on windows, as unix builds contain by default both static and shared libraries. On windows, only static or shared may be specified, as these binares can only contain either static or shared libraries. If nothing is specified, static libraries will be preferred.

arch

Optional The architecture the binares were built for. Must be either x86 for default x86/amd64 or aarch64 for arm64 systems. The x86 can be used for the default github runners, the aarch64 images may be used for cross-compiling binaries for arm systems. If not set, x86 images will be used. Only works on linux images with version 20.04 (or just specify no os version).

cache

Optional Whether to use actions/cache to further decrease build times. Defaults to true, you'll only ever need to set this if you want to disable the cache.

Outputs

BOOST_ROOT

The boost root directory path, to be passed to another tool, e.g. CMake to find Boost:

- name: Configure CMake
  run: cmake . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -B build
  env:
      BOOST_ROOT: ${{ steps.install-boost.outputs.BOOST_ROOT }}

Notes: Sometimes you'll have to pass the path to the include and library directories to cmake:

- name: Configure CMake
  run: |
      cmake . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD_TYPE -B build\
      -DBoost_INCLUDE_DIR=${{steps.install-boost.outputs.BOOST_ROOT}}/include\
      -DBoost_LIBRARY_DIRS=${{steps.install-boost.outputs.BOOST_ROOT}}/lib
  env:
      BOOST_ROOT: ${{ steps.install-boost.outputs.BOOST_ROOT }}

BOOST_VER

The version of boost installed, e.g. boost-1.73.0-linux-16.04.

Example usage

Windows

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/MarkusJx/prebuilt-boost/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custon install location
      boost_install_dir: C:\some_directory
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a platform version
      platform_version: 2019
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a toolset
      toolset: msvc

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

Ubuntu

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/MarkusJx/prebuilt-boost/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a platform version
      platform_version: 18.04
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custom install location
      boost_install_dir: /home/runner/some_directory
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a toolset
      toolset: gcc
      # OPTIONAL: Specify an architecture
      arch: x86

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

MacOs

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/MarkusJx/prebuilt-boost/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a platform version
      platform_version: 10.15
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custom install location
      boost_install_dir: /home/runner/some_directory
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a toolset
      toolset: clang

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

Legacy use

Windows

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/actions/boost-versions/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a toolset on windows
      toolset: msvc14.2
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custon install location
      boost_install_dir: C:\some_directory

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

or

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/actions/boost-versions/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # Use the legacy version of this action
      version: legacy
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a toolset on windows
      toolset: msvc14.2
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custon install location
      boost_install_dir: C:\some_directory

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

Ubuntu

- name: Install boost
  uses: MarkusJx/[email protected]
  id: install-boost
  with:
      # REQUIRED: Specify the required boost version
      # A list of supported versions can be found here:
      # https://github.com/actions/boost-versions/blob/main/versions-manifest.json
      boost_version: 1.73.0
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a platform version on ubuntu
      platform_version: 18.04
      # OPTIONAL: Specify a custom install location
      boost_install_dir: /home/runner/some_directory

      # NOTE: If a boost version matching all requirements cannot be found,
      # this build step will fail

Caching

As of version 2.4.0, install-boost natively supports caching using actions/cache to further improve build times. This is enabled by default. You can disable this behaviour by setting the cache variable to false.

Boost.Python

Starting from boost version 1.80.0, the pre-built binaries will be built with boost.python for the following python versions:

• 3.7
• 3.8
• 3.9
• 3.10
• 3.11

Due to memory restrictions on the build runners, there are some binaries which don't support python: