Try to build boost as static universal lib on macOS Apple M1

[diuming]

Try to build as universal lib on macOS Apple M1, but always failed.
Is it possible to build boost as universal lib on macOS Apple M1?

cmake command with options

  cmake \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/mylib/universal/boost-1.83.0 \
  -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=11.0 \
  -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64;x86_64" \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
  -DZLIB_ROOT=/mylib/universal/zlib-1.2.13 \
  -DBZip2_ROOT=/mylib/universal/bzip2-1.0.8 \
  -DIconv_ROOT=/mylib/universal/libiconv-1.17 \
  -DBOOST_ENABLE_PYTHON=OFF \
  -S . \
  -B _build

Error messages

[  0%] Building CXX object libs/atomic/CMakeFiles/boost_atomic.dir/src/lock_pool.cpp.o
[  0%] Linking CXX static library ../../stage/lib/libboost_atomic.a
[  0%] Built target boost_atomic
[  0%] Building CXX object libs/chrono/CMakeFiles/boost_chrono.dir/src/chrono.cpp.o
[  1%] Building CXX object libs/chrono/CMakeFiles/boost_chrono.dir/src/process_cpu_clocks.cpp.o
[  1%] Building CXX object libs/chrono/CMakeFiles/boost_chrono.dir/src/thread_clock.cpp.o
[  1%] Linking CXX static library ../../stage/lib/libboost_chrono.a
[  1%] Built target boost_chrono
[  1%] Building C object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/alloc_lib.c.o
[  2%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/dlmalloc.cpp.o
[  2%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/global_resource.cpp.o
[  2%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/monotonic_buffer_resource.cpp.o
[  3%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/pool_resource.cpp.o
[  3%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/synchronized_pool_resource.cpp.o
[  3%] Building CXX object libs/container/CMakeFiles/boost_container.dir/src/unsynchronized_pool_resource.cpp.o
[  3%] Linking CXX static library ../../stage/lib/libboost_container.a
[  3%] Built target boost_container
[  4%] Building ASM object libs/context/CMakeFiles/boost_context.dir/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S.o
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:59:21: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; shift address in x0 (allocated stack) to lower 16 byte boundary
                    ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:60:5: error: unknown use of instruction mnemonic without a size suffix
    and x0, x0, ~0xF
    ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:62:21: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; reserve space for context-data on context-stack
                    ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:63:17: error: unknown token in expression
    sub x0, x0, #0xb0
                ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:65:17: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; third arg of make_fcontext() == address of context-function
                ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:66:21: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; store address as a PC to jump in
                    ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:67:13: error: brackets expression not supported on this target
    str x2, [x0, #0xa0]
            ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:69:5: error: invalid instruction mnemonic 'adr'
    adr x1, finish
    ^~~
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:71:20: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; save address of finish as return-address for context-function
                   ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:72:15: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; will be entered after context-function returns (LR register)
              ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:73:13: error: brackets expression not supported on this target
    str x1, [x0, #0x98]
            ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:75:5: error: unknown use of instruction mnemonic without a size suffix
    ret lr ; return pointer to context-data (x0)
    ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:75:29: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ret lr ; return pointer to context-data (x0)
                            ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:78:17: error: unexpected token in argument list
    ; exit code is zero
                ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:79:13: error: unknown token in expression
    mov x0, #0
            ^
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:80:7: error: invalid instruction mnemonic 'exit'
    ; exit application
      ^~~~
/Downloads/boost-1.83.0/libs/context/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S:81:5: error: invalid instruction mnemonic 'bl'
    bl __exit
    ^~
make[2]: *** [libs/context/CMakeFiles/boost_context.dir/src/asm/make_arm64_aapcs_macho_gas.S.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [libs/context/CMakeFiles/boost_context.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

[Boris-Rasin]

Boost::context library boost/libs/context/CMakeLists.txt selects asm sources based on CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR variable during CMake configuration step.

CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR specifies single architecture, which in your case happens to be arm64.

So the build fails when trying to build x86_64 part of universal lib.

As a workaround, it should be possible to build arm64 and x86_64 libraries separately, then combine them into universal lib using lipo.

Build arm64 only:

-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64
-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=arm64

Build x86_64 only:

-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64
-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=x86_64

The real solution will probably require changes in CMake itself, like support for $<CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR> generator expression.