Undefined reference to Boost copy_file

Problem

C++ code that uses Boost Filesystem was compiling fine with Boost 1.49. However, when I switched to Boost 1.55, the same code gave this error:

foobar.cpp.o: In function `do_something()':
foobar.cpp:(.text+0xb78): undefined reference to `boost::filesystem::detail::copy_file(boost::filesystem::path const&, boost::filesystem::path const&, boost::filesystem::copy_option, boost::system::error_code*)'

This was surprising since the declaration of the copy_file method was present in filesystem.hpp and libboost_filesystem.so was linked during compilation.

Solution

Turns out this is a known bug with Boost Filesystem as described here. Apparently, this happens only if the C++ code is compiled with the -std=c++11 option. I was indeed using that option.

The current fix for this bug is to temporarily disable the C++ scoped enums when the Boost Filesystem header file is included, like this:

#define BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS
#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
#undef BOOST_NO_CXX11_SCOPED_ENUMS

Tried with: Boost 1.55, GCC 4.8.4 and Ubuntu 14.04