How to get path to a dependency lib target's result file

[gabrieldevillers]

b2 does not natively support GCC's ld --whole-archive so I am trying to use it via the <linkflags> feature.

However to do that I need to provide the path to the dependency I am linking against, such as:

"../build/Jam/LibA/gcc-14/debug/address-model-64/architecture-x86/cxxstd-20-iso/link-static/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/libcLibA.a"

(or the path to the directory containing it, that I would pass to -L)

Is there a way to query the path to a dependency target's resulting file ?

Here is what I currently have:

lib cPackage : $(Project_TOP)/LibA//cLibA/<link>static/<define>LIBA_BUILD_DLL
               $(Project_TOP)/LibB//cLibB/<link>static/<define>LIBB_BUILD_DLL
             : <link>shared
               <linkflags>"-Wl,--whole-archive ../build/Jam/LibA/gcc-14/debug/address-model-64/architecture-x86/cxxstd-20-iso/link-static/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/libcLibA.a ../build/Jam/LibB/gcc-14/debug/address-model-64/architecture-x86/cxxstd-20-iso/link-static/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/libcLibB.a -Wl,--no-whole-archive"
             ;

which seems to work but hardcodes features values in the jamfile which is unfortunate.

So I would like to convert:
$(Project_TOP)/LibA//cLibA/<link>static/<define>LIBA_BUILD_DLL
into:
../build/Jam/LibA/gcc-14/debug/address-model-64/architecture-x86/cxxstd-20-iso/link-static/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/libcLibA.a
(taking feature values into account)

I searched the doc and the sources but found nothing that helps, but I am not a b2 expert so maybe I missed something.

In any case I whish you a Happy New Year.

[grisumbras]

Something like this should work:

import path ;
import property-set ;

generate whole
  : $(Project_TOP)/LibA//cLibA/<link>static/<define>LIBA_BUILD_DLL
    $(Project_TOP)/LibB//cLibB/<link>static/<define>LIBB_BUILD_DLL
  : <generating-rule>@as-whole-archive
  ;

lib cPackage : whole : <link>shared ;

rule as-whole-archive ( project name : property-set : srcs * )
{
  echo $(srcs) ;
  echo [ $(property-set).raw ] ;
  local result ;
  for local src in $(srcs)
  {
    result += [ path.native [ path.root [ $(src).name ] [ $(src).path ] ] ] ;
  }
  result = <linkflags>"-Wl,--whole-archive $(result:J= ) -Wl,--no-whole-archive" ;
  result += <dependency>$(srcs) ;
  return [ property-set.create $(result) ] ;
}

[gabrieldevillers]

Thank you for your answer, in the meantime I found another solution, but I am sure yours will be helpful in the future.