Cannot find Boost when installing Dlib

Question

I am a windows user and currently working on windows 10. I am trying to install Dlib on python 3.5 from past 8 hours but am failing. Whenever i try to "pip install Dlib", or try to "python setup.py install" (in dlib folder), I get error message saying "cmake configuration failed". And throughout the execution, I can see "Could not find BOOST". Can someone guide me here ?

>>python setup.py install
running install
running bdist_egg
running build
Detected Python architecture: 32bit
Detected platform: win32
Removing build directory C:\Users\Tabish\Desktop\dlib-master\./tools/python/build
Configuring cmake ...
-- Building for: Visual Studio 14 2015
-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.0.24213.1
-- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.0.24213.1
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:744 (message):
  Imported targets not available for Boost version
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:848 (_Boost_COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1435 (_Boost_MISSING_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:61 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1499 (message):
  No header defined for python-py34; skipping header check
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:61 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
-- Could NOT find Boost
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:744 (message):
  Imported targets not available for Boost version
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:848 (_Boost_COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1435 (_Boost_MISSING_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:63 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1499 (message):
  No header defined for python-py35; skipping header check
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:63 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
-- Could NOT find Boost
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:744 (message):
  Imported targets not available for Boost version
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:848 (_Boost_COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1435 (_Boost_MISSING_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:66 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1499 (message):
  No header defined for python3; skipping header check
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:66 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
-- Could NOT find Boost
CMake Warning at C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:744 (message):
  Imported targets not available for Boost version
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:848 (_Boost_COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/Lib/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-3.7/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:1435 (_Boost_MISSING_DEPENDENCIES)
  C:/Users/Tabish/Desktop/dlib-master/dlib/cmake_utils/add_python_module:69 (FIND_PACKAGE)
  CMakeLists.txt:6 (include)
-- Could NOT find Boost
-- Found PythonLibs: C:/Program Files (x86)/Python35-32/libs/python35.lib (found suitable version "3.5.2", minimum required is "3.4")
--  *****************************************************************************************************
-- We couldn't find the right version of boost python.  If you installed boost and you are still getting this error then you might have installed a version of boost that was compiled with a different version of visual studio than the one you are using.  So you have to make sure that the version of visual studio is the same version that was used to compile the copy of boost you are using.
--  Set the BOOST_ROOT and BOOST_LIBRARYDIR environment variables before running cmake.
--  E.g.  Something like this:
--     set BOOST_ROOT=C:\local\boost_1_57_0
--     set BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=C:\local\boost_1_57_0\stage\lib
--
--  You will also likely need to compile boost yourself rather than using one of the precompiled
--  windows binaries.  Do this by going to the folder tools\build\ within boost and running
--  bootstrap.bat.  Then run the command:
--     b2 install
--  And then add the output bin folder to your PATH.  Usually this is the C:\boost-build-engine\bin
--  folder. Finally, go to the boost root and run a command like this:
--     b2 -a --with-python address-model=64 toolset=msvc runtime-link=static
--  When it completes, set BOOST_LIBRARYDIR equal to wherever b2 put the compiled libraries.
--  Note that you will need to set the address-model based on if you want a 32 or 64bit python library.
--
--  Next, when you invoke cmake to compile dlib you may have to use cmake's -G option to set the
--  64 vs. 32bit mode of visual studio.  Also, if you want a Python3 library you will need to
error: cmake configuration failed!

Answer 1

Try the following steps: (Adjusted for Windows)

1. Download boost source package.

2. cd into the extracted boost folder

3. run .\bootstrap.bat

4. run .\b2 runtime-link=shared link=shared. (This will create dynamic boost libs that are themselves linking to dynamic runtime libs.

5. Set the following environment variables (after adjusting them to your own paths of course):

   BOOST_LIBRARYDIR="C:\Developer\boost_1_62_0\stage\lib"
   

   BOOST_INCLUDEDIR="C:\Developer\boost_1_62_0"
   

   BOOST_ROOT="C:\Developer\boost_1_62_0"
   

6. Retry with python setup.py install

I got a similar issue when CMake's find_package() couldn't find boost, the reason was that building boost with b2 only, without the parameter link=shared caused the generated .lib files to have a prefix "lib" on Windows, and CMake's find_package() doesn't expect the libs to have the "lib" prefix.