conan-vcpkg

Conan and vcpkg

Purpose

Guide agents through C/C++ dependency management with Conan and vcpkg: declaring dependencies, integrating with CMake, managing binary compatibility, and choosing the right tool for a given project.

Triggers

• "How do I add a C++ library dependency with Conan?"
• "How do I use vcpkg with CMake?"
• "What's the difference between Conan and vcpkg?"
• "How do I add zlib/openssl/fmt with a package manager?"
• "How do I create a vcpkg.json manifest?"
• "My Conan package build is failing — how do I debug it?"

Workflow

1. Conan vs vcpkg decision

Which package manager?
├── Team uses MSVC on Windows primarily → vcpkg (better MSVC integration)
├── Need binary packages (no source builds in CI) → Conan (binary cache)
├── Need cross-compilation support → Conan (profiles) or Zig-based builds
├── Need a specific version of a package → Conan (flexible versioning)
├── Quick project setup, just need it to work → vcpkg (simpler)
└── Open-source project, broad audience → vcpkg (GitHub-integrated)

2. vcpkg setup

# Clone vcpkg
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
./vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.sh    # Linux/macOS
./vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.bat   # Windows

# Install packages (classic mode)
./vcpkg/vcpkg install zlib curl openssl

# Integrate with CMake
cmake -S . -B build \
    -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/path/to/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake

3. vcpkg manifest mode (recommended)

// vcpkg.json — place at project root
{
    "name": "myapp",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "dependencies": [
        "zlib",
        "curl",
        { "name": "openssl", "version>=": "3.0.0" },
        { "name": "boost-filesystem", "platform": "!windows" },
        {
            "name": "fmt",
            "features": ["core"]
        }
    ],
    "builtin-baseline": "abc123..."
}

# CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(myapp)

find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
find_package(CURL REQUIRED)
find_package(fmt REQUIRED)

add_executable(myapp src/main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE ZLIB::ZLIB CURL::libcurl fmt::fmt)