introduction

vcpkg is a cross-platform package manager for C and C++ libraries, developed and maintained by Microsoft.

It serves a similar purpose to:

  1. apt on Ubuntu
  2. brew on macOS
  3. pip for Python
  4. npm for Node.js

but specifically for C/C++ libraries.

install vcpkg

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

terminal

it’s better to run “vcpkg install” in Developer PowerShell(or x64 Native Tools Command Prompt) for VS 2022 rather than a common powershell terminal if you want the libraries to be built with the VS2022 MSVC toolset.

version control of libraries

Use vcpkg.json manifest with version constraint
{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": [
    {
      "name": "eigen3",
      "version>=": "3.4.0"
    },
    {
      "name": "ceres",
      "version=": "2.2.0"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "builtin-baseline": "7f0b1c8c6e0d4f9c...",
  "dependencies": [
    "eigen3"
  ]
}

transfer libraries

Factor A → B dependency copy B build C run
CPU architecture must match target must support target must support target
MSVC version must match for cache reuse yes no
AVX/SSE support no maybe yes
GPU no only if CUDA only if CUDA
RAM/disk performance only performance only no
Binary caching

On computer A:

vcpkg install --binarycaching

Enable caching:

set VCPKG_FEATURE_FLAGS=binarycaching

Then copy the binary cache folder to computer B. On computer B:

  1. Use same vcpkg commit
  2. Enable binary caching
  3. Run
set VCPKG_ROOT=C:\dev\vcpkg
set VCPKG_DEFAULT_BINARY_CACHE=D:\vcpkg-cache

cd C:\path\to\your\project
%VCPKG_ROOT%\vcpkg install --triplet x64-windows
vcpkg install

It will reuse prebuilt binaries instead of rebuilding.

completely offline machine

On machine A:

vcpkg export --raw

or

vcpkg export --zip

or

vcpkg export --triplet x64-windows --zip --output=vcpkg-export

Best practice: zip the whole C:\vcpkg\ and unpack it on B to the same path (or any path, but then you must update paths accordingly).

configuration

# PowerShell
$env:VCPKG_DOWNLOAD_RETRY_COUNT=10

# cmd

set VCPKG_DOWNLOAD_RETRY_COUNT=10
# configure delay between retries:
set VCPKG_DOWNLOAD_RETRY_DELAY_SECONDS=5

common commands

Triplet Result
x64-windows Uses .dll
x64-windows-static Fully static .lib
x64-linux ELF .so 
# install a library
vcpkg install yaml-cpp
# specify target build configuration
vcpkg install glog:x64-windows
vcpkg install --triplet x64-windows

# enables user-wide integration of vcpkg with your build environment so that installed libraries are discovered automatically, without manually specifying the toolchain file each time.
vcpkg integrate install
# restore environment to manual mode
vcpkg integrate remove

# list installed libraries, filter that contain specific string "yaml-cpp"
vcpkg list | findstr yaml-cpp

# remove a library
vcpkg remove yaml-cpp
# 
vcpkg remove yaml-cpp --recurse
# 
vcpkg remove yaml-cpp --recurse --triplet x86-windows

# 
vcpkg update
vcpkg upgrade --no-dry-run

# check available versions
vcpkg search eigen3