The Boost Distribution

This is a sketch of the resulting directory structure:

|boost_ver-bold||//| .................The “boost root directory”
   index.htm .........A copy of www.boost.org starts here
   boost|//| .........................All Boost Header files
   |precompiled-dir|
   libs|//| ............Tests, .cpps, docs, etc., by library
     index.html ........Library documentation starts here
     algorithm|//|
     any|//|
     array|//|
                     …more libraries…
   status|//| .........................Boost-wide test suite
   tools|//| ...........Utilities, e.g. bjam, quickbook, bcp
   more|//| ..........................Policy documents, etc.
   doc|//| ...............A subset of all Boost library docs

It's important to note the following:

1. The path to the boost root directory (often |default-root|) is sometimes referred to as $BOOST_ROOT in documentation and mailing lists .

2. To compile anything in Boost, you need a directory containing the boost|/| subdirectory in your #include path. |include-paths|

3. Since all of Boost's header files have the .hpp extension, and live in the boost|/| subdirectory of the boost root, your Boost #include directives will look like:

   #include <boost/whatever.hpp>
   

   or

   #include "boost/whatever.hpp"
   

   depending on your preference regarding the use of angle bracket includes. |forward-slashes|

4. Don't be distracted by the doc|/| subdirectory; it only contains a subset of the Boost documentation. Start with libs|/|index.html if you're looking for the whole enchilada.