BCP(1)

💅 BCP — the manual page, but make it make sense

okay bestie, so this is BCP(1), living under the Boost C++ Libraries Documentation umbrella. Basically? It's the little tool that lets you grab just a slice of Boost instead of the whole entire buffet. 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

bcp — extract subsets of Boost. that's it. that's the whole vibe. she takes a piece, she takes the deps, she leaves the rest of Boost at home. 🎀

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bcp --list [options] module-list
bcp [options] module-list output-path
bcp --report [options] module-list html-file
bcp --help

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the deal: bcp copies all the files, including dependencies, that it finds in module-list over to output-path. and output-path? it has to already exist. she does not create it for you. she is not your landlord. 🙈

With --list, she prints the list of all the files in module-list, including dependencies. no copying, just looking. window shopping, if you will. 💅

With --report, she writes the HTML report to html-file.

With --help, she prints a quick usage reminder. bless. 🫶

Lowkey who is this for? it's useful for Boost authors who wanna distribute their library separately from Boost, and for Boost users who wanna ship a subset of Boost alongside their app. both slay, honestly.

---

🧚 module-list

When the --scan option is not used, this is a list of Boost files or library names to copy. It can be:

• The name of a tool: for example "build" will find "tools/build".
• The name of a library: for example "regex".
• The title of a header: for example "scoped_ptr" will find "boost/scoped_ptr.hpp".
• The name of a header: for example "scoped_ptr.hpp" will find "boost/scoped_ptr.hpp".
• The name of a file: for example "boost/regex.hpp".

When the --scan option is used, this is a list of (probably non-boost) files to scan for Boost dependencies — and the files in the module list are not therefore copied/listed. she's just using them as clues, bestie. detective mode. 🔍

---

🔥 File dependencies

• C++ source files are scanned for #includes, all #includes present in the Boost source tree will then be scanned for their dependencies and so on. it's giving chain reaction. it's giving dominoes. 🁢
• C++ source files are associated with the name of a library, if that library has source code (and possibly build data), then include that source in the dependencies.
• C++ source files are checked for dependencies on Boost.Test (for example to see if they use cpp_main as an entry point).
• HTML files are scanned for immediate dependencies (images and style sheets, but not links).

---

💜 HTML report contains:

• all the licenses in effect, plus the files using each license, and the copyright holders using each license
• any files with no recognizable license (please report these to the Boost mailing lists)
• any files with no recognizable copyright holders (please report these to the Boost mailing lists)
• all the copyright holders and the files on which they hold copyright
• file dependency information - indicates the reason for the inclusion of any particular file in the dependencies found

---

👑 OPTIONS 👑

• --boost=path — sets the location of the Boost tree to path. point her at the tree, she'll do the rest. 🌳
• --scan — treat the module list as a list of (possibly non-boost) files to scan for Boost dependencies. no copy, just sniffing around. 🕵️
• --cvs — only copy files under CVS version control. vintage. retro. a little nostalgic, honestly. 🕰️
• --unix-lines — make sure that all copied files use Unix style line endings. she said consistency or nothing. ✨

---

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

• bcp scoped_ptr /foo

Copies boost/scoped_ptr.hpp and dependencies to /foo.

• bcp boost/regex.hpp /foo

Copies boost/regex.hpp and all dependencies including the regex source code (in libs/regex/src) and build files (in libs/regex/build) to /foo. Does not copy the regex documentation, test or example code. okay so she's picky, but like, in a focused way. 💅

• bcp regex /foo

Copies the full regex lib (in libs/regex) including dependencies (such as the Boost.Test source required by the regex test programs) to /foo.

• bcp regex config build /foo

Copies the full regex lib (in libs/regex) plus the config lib (libs/config) and the build system (tools/build) to /foo including all the dependencies. combo meal. 🍟

• bcp --scan --boost=/boost foo.cpp bar.cpp boost

Scans the [non-boost] files foo.cpp and bar.cpp for Boost dependencies and copies those dependencies to the sub-directory boost.

• bcp --report regex.hpp boost-regex-report.html

Creates a HTML report called boost-regex-report.html for the Boost module regex.hpp.

---

💖 AUTHORS 💖

Author of bcp is John Maddock.

Author of this manpage is Domenico Andreoli, who copied stuff from bcp --help and the HTML documentation. (king behavior, honestly — sourcing your material is main character energy. 🫶)

---

okay that's the whole page!! it came from the Boost C++ Libraries, dated March 2006, filed under BCP(1). go extract your lil subset, bestie, you've got this. 🎀✨🦋💜