Download latest version of boost: https://www.boost.org/users/download/

In the directory where you want to extract Boost

tar --bzip2 -xf */path/to/*boost_x_xx_0.tar.bz2

First, bootstrapping the installer.

cd path/to/boost_x_xx_0
./bootstrap.sh --prefix=/usr/local/boost-x.xx.0

Once the above is finished, open project-config.jam in a text editor and comment these lines:

#**if** ! darwin in [ feature.values <toolset> ]
#{
#    using darwin ;
#}

#project : default-build <toolset>darwin ;

# =================== or ======================

#**if** ! gcc in [ feature.values <toolset> ]
#{
#    using gcc ;
#}

#project : default-build <toolset>gcc ;

Now, we can specify the version of GCC we want to use (here I use gcc-13 for demonstration by adding an extra line to *project-config.jam*:

#project : default-build <toolset>darwin ;

using gcc : 13 : /usr/local/bin/g++-13 ;

Feel free to change 13 to match the version of GCC you have on your Mac, save and close project-config.jam.

At this point, you are ready to build and install Boost:

sudo ./b2 cxxflags=-std=c++17 install

You will also need to add the Boost libraries to the dynamic libraries path with:

export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/boost-x.xx.0/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

you can save the above export line to your .bash_profile or .zshrc file for changing the path permanently or use the above line only when you need it, the path will revert to the default value once you close your Terminal.

For convenience, you may also add boost header and static libs into your environmental variables:

# add following lines to .bashrc or .zshrc
export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/boost-x.xx.0/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
export CPATH=/usr/local/boost-x.xx.0/include:$CPATH
export LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/boost-x.xx.0/lib:$LIBRARY_PATH