Updated version of https://gist.github.com/thiagowfx/970e3931387ed7db9a39709a8a130ee9 working in 2023 and on Windows

FindBoost.cmake

# - Find Boost
# 
# Based on https://gist.github.com/thiagowfx/970e3931387ed7db9a39709a8a130ee9 Copyright (c) 2016 Thiago Barroso Perrotta
# 
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
# this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
# the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
# use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
# the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
# subject to the following conditions:
# 
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
# copies or substantial portions of the Software.
# 
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
# FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
# COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
# IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
# CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
#
# This module finds if Boost is installed and determines where the
# executables are. It sets the following variables:
#
#  BOOST_FOUND : boolean            - system has Boost
#  BOOST_LIBRARIES : list(filepath) - the libraries needed to use Boost
#  BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS : list(path)  - the Boost include directories
#
# If Boost is not found, this module downloads it according to the
# following variables:
#
#  BOOST_ROOT_DIR : path                - the Path where Boost will be installed on
#  BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION : string     - the Boost version to be downloaded
#
# You can also specify its components:
#
#  find_package(Boost COMPONENTS program_options system)
#
# which are stored in Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS : list(string)
#
# You can also specify its behavior:
#
#  BOOST_USE_STATIC_LIBS : boolean (default: OFF)

if(NOT Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS)
	message(FATAL_ERROR "No COMPONENTS specified for Boost")
endif()

set(BOOST_USE_STATIC_LIBS false)

# Set the library prefix and library suffix properly.
if(BOOST_USE_STATIC_LIBS)
	set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX})
	set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
	set(LIBRARY_PREFIX ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX})
	set(LIBRARY_SUFFIX ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
else()
	set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX})
	set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
	set(LIBRARY_PREFIX ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX})
	set(LIBRARY_SUFFIX ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
endif()

# Create a list(string) for the build command (e.g. --with-program_options;--with-system)
# and assigns it to BOOST_COMPONENTS_FOR_BUILD
foreach(component ${Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS})
	list(APPEND BOOST_COMPONENTS_FOR_BUILD --with-${component})
endforeach()

# Create a string for the first component (e.g. boost_program_options)
# and assigns it to Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS
list(GET Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS 0 BOOST_FIRST_COMPONENT)
set(BOOST_FIRST_COMPONENT "boost_${BOOST_FIRST_COMPONENT}")

include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)

macro(DO_FIND_BOOST_SYSTEM)
	if(UNIX)
		find_path(BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR boost/config.hpp
				  PATHS /usr/local/include /usr/include
		)
		find_library(BOOST_LIBRARY
				 	NAMES ${BOOST_FIRST_COMPONENT}
					PATHS /usr/local/lib /usr/lib
		)
	endif()
	
	FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Boost DEFAULT_MSG
		BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR BOOST_LIBRARY
		)
	set(BOOST_LIBRARIES ${BOOST_LIBRARY})
	set(BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS ${BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR})
	mark_as_advanced(BOOST_LIBRARIES BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS)
endmacro()

macro(DO_FIND_BOOST_ROOT)
	if(NOT BOOST_ROOT_DIR)
		message(STATUS "BOOST_ROOT_DIR is not defined, using binary directory.")
		set(BOOST_ROOT_DIR ${CURRENT_CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} CACHE PATH "")
	endif()

	# Search root dir for boost/config.hpp
	message(STATUS "BOOST_ROOT_DIR = ${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}")
	file(
		GLOB
		ACTUAL_HPP_FILE 
		LIST_DIRECTORIES false
		"${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}/include/*/boost/config.hpp"
	)
	message(STATUS "ACTUAL_HPP_FILE = ${ACTUAL_HPP_FILE}")
	# Go up 2 directories
	cmake_path(GET ACTUAL_HPP_FILE PARENT_PATH HINT1)
	cmake_path(GET HINT1 PARENT_PATH HINT1)
	message(STATUS "HINT1 = ${HINT1}")

	find_path(
		BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR 
		NAMES "boost/config.hpp"
		HINTS ${HINT1}
		NO_CACHE
	)

	find_library(BOOST_LIBRARY ${BOOST_FIRST_COMPONENT} HINTS ${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}/lib)
	FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Boost DEFAULT_MSG
		BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR BOOST_LIBRARY
		)
	set(BOOST_LIBRARIES ${BOOST_LIBRARY})
	set(BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS ${BOOST_INCLUDE_DIR})
	mark_as_advanced(BOOST_LIBRARIES BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS)

	message(STATUS "Boost include dirs ${BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
endmacro()

macro(DO_FIND_BOOST_DOWNLOAD)
	if(NOT BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION)
		message(FATAL_ERROR "BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION is not defined.")
	endif()

	string(REPLACE "." "_" BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION_UNDERSCORE ${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION})

	set(BOOST_MAYBE_STATIC)
	if(BOOST_USE_STATIC_LIBS)
		set(BOOST_MAYBE_STATIC "link=static")
	endif()

	include(ExternalProject)
	if(WIN32)
	ExternalProject_Add(
		Boost
		URL https://boostorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/main/release/${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION}/source/boost_${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION_UNDERSCORE}.7z
		# URL https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION}/boost_${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION_UNDERSCORE}.zip
		UPDATE_COMMAND ""
		CONFIGURE_COMMAND ./bootstrap.bat --prefix=${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}
		BUILD_COMMAND ./b2 ${BOOST_MAYBE_STATIC} --prefix=${BOOST_ROOT_DIR} ${BOOST_COMPONENTS_FOR_BUILD} install
		BUILD_IN_SOURCE true
		INSTALL_COMMAND ""
		INSTALL_DIR ${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}
		)
	else()
	ExternalProject_Add(
		Boost
		URL https://boostorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/main/release/${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION}/source/boost_${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION_UNDERSCORE}.bzip2
		# URL https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION}/boost_${BOOST_REQUESTED_VERSION_UNDERSCORE}.zip
		UPDATE_COMMAND ""
		CONFIGURE_COMMAND ./bootstrap.sh --prefix=${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}
		BUILD_COMMAND ./b2 ${BOOST_MAYBE_STATIC} --prefix=${BOOST_ROOT_DIR} ${BOOST_COMPONENTS_FOR_BUILD} install
		BUILD_IN_SOURCE true
		INSTALL_COMMAND ""
		INSTALL_DIR ${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}
	)
	endif()

	ExternalProject_Get_Property(Boost install_dir)
	set(BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS ${install_dir}/include)

	macro(libraries_to_fullpath varname)
		set(${varname})
		foreach(component ${Boost_FIND_COMPONENTS})
			list(APPEND ${varname} ${BOOST_ROOT_DIR}/lib/${LIBRARY_PREFIX}boost_${component}${LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
		endforeach()
	endmacro()
	libraries_to_fullpath(BOOST_LIBRARIES)

	FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Boost DEFAULT_MSG
		BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS BOOST_LIBRARIES
		)
	mark_as_advanced(BOOST_LIBRARIES BOOST_INCLUDE_DIRS)
endmacro()

if(NOT BOOST_FOUND)
	DO_FIND_BOOST_ROOT()
endif()

if(NOT BOOST_FOUND)
	DO_FIND_BOOST_SYSTEM()
endif()

if(NOT BOOST_FOUND)
	DO_FIND_BOOST_DOWNLOAD()
endif()

I don't believe this actually works, do you have an example of how this links; in all my tests it doesnt resolve the headers of boost at all and cannot properly include them (it does download boost tho nicely)

Hi,

For the download link, it should be .tar.bz2 or .tar.gz.

Hi,

This is my complete cmake example, it will use official FindBoost to find the boost package.
If boost is not found, it will download and build it and store the built library in ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/boost to prevent re-build every time.