How to automatically find or build C library dependencies on Windows/MSVC?

Question

I have a tool in C that needs libpng, zlib and lcms libraries. On unix I get these dependencies via pkg-config, but on Windows I can't rely on it, so for users building the library it's a massive hassle to obtain and build these dependencies manually.

How can I automate obtaining these dependencies in the most Windows-native way? I know MinGW helps, but that's a bit of a cop-out. I'd like to learn how to do it with the Microsoft toolchain.

• Is there any point in searching for shared non-Microsoft libraries on Windows, or should I go straight for statically linking my own?
• If I were to download and build the libraries as part of my build script, what should I use? (nuget? curl? ftp.exe?)
• It seems like Microsoft is discouraging use of NuGet for C? https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/docs/about/faq.md#why-not-nuget

Answer 1

I recommend looking into Nuget. It's fast becoming the Microsoft standard for these sort of things. A lot of people think Nuget is just for .NET, but it works great for VC++ too. I have had a great deal of success setting up Nuget servers in my company to serve headers and compiled libs, and I've gotten all of our automated build systems to create these things automatically. I'm not going to spell out all the details here, but it basically comes down to performing your build, creating an MSBuild XML snippet to set up the precompiler and link options automatically, and then packaging all those bits (headers, libs, XML) in the correct way. When done correctly, it's just a two step process to use an existing package in a new project -- establish the Nuget reference and then add the #includes into your code. You don't even need a server -- you can source them directly from a directory of your own control.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/create-packages/native-packages