How can I link my CMake project to BOOST::python that using conan?

I have a simple main.cpp that I am trying to utilize boost/python.hpp. All of my current CMake experience so far has used target_include_directories or me having the header or source files. Now I need to utilize Conan to get BOOST however I am unable to link it to my project.

So far I have a main.cpp that looks lile,

#include <iostream>

#include <boost/python.hpp>  

using namespace boost::python;  

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello World!";
}

A CMakeLists.txt that looks like,

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)

project(myMath)

list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/build/dependencies/conan")

find_package(Boost 1.72 CONFIG REQUIRED)

target_link_libraries(my_math Boost::python)

add_executable(my_math 
    main.cpp)

The conanfile.txt is,

[requires]
boost/1.83.0

[generators]
CMakeDeps
CMakeToolchain

I have set the CMake GUI,

"Where is the source code" to ".../Desktop/C++/BoostExample" "Where to build the binaries" to ".../Desktop/C++/BoostExample/build/CMakeBuild"

However my CMake keeps giving me an error saying it can't find the BoostConfig.cmake, which I can see inside of .../dependencies/conan which should be found because I set, list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/build/dependencies/conan").

  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "Boost" (requested
  version 1.72) with any of the following names:

    BoostConfig.cmake
    boost-config.cmake

My conan install command was conan install conanfile.txt -of build/dependencies/conan

What are the remaining requirements so that I can find BOOST::python and also, why did Conan not give me any .hpp files?

Solution

As you're using the CMakeToolchain and CMakeDeps generators you should be using the Conan toolchain rather than setting CMAKE_MODULE_PATH: https://docs.conan.io/2/tutorial/consuming_packages/build_simple_cmake_project.html which is for the legacy cmake_find_package generator.

When running cmake use:

cmake .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=dependencies/conan/conan_toolchain.cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

Note that boost_python isn't enabled by default in the conan recipe so you'll need to explicitly enable it:

[requires]
boost/1.83.0

[options]
boost*:without_python=False

[generators]
CMakeDeps
CMakeToolchain