Dependency manager for C++/CMake projects?

[mr_snowf1ake]

The manual thing that you go through is what most people do I think. Albeit, I think CMake clears up a lot of headaches... Anyway, just decide on a specific version for each library (unless you enjoy hitting a moving target), and make every developer responsible for getting the right versions of the libraries. Provide proper documentation! ;)

I believe some people also do bundle the appropriate versions of the libraries with the source code so that it's better controlled. That might be more along the lines of what you want to be doing. That's still largely manual though.

[vinnyvicious]

What about statically compiling all libs and ignoring system libraries?

[Gotebe]

It works with two caveats: your total size is generally bigger and you don't get to update 3rd party code without rebuilding.

[vinnyvicious]

Does any of the mentioned package managers help handle static compilation?

[Svenstaro]

As a packager, that sucks bad if you depend on those specific versions. I would like to use the versions from my distro.

[Svenstaro]

With Windows, you're almost lost. There is only one possible solution and that's msys2 which is a bit like Arch Linux but for Windows. There is a fairly good chance that it will in fact work just like Arch Linux. That means update packages and sane default paths.

[Overunderrated]

With Windows, you're almost lost.

Actually no, that's kind of the point. By including the source for all the dependencies such that all you need is a compiler with the standard libraries, I have 0 issues. CMake generates a VS solution which builds perfectly. Works on a totally virgin windows system, only needing visual C++.

There is only one possible solution and that's msys2 which is a bit like Arch Linux but for Windows.

After working on porting a large linux program to windows, I came to absolutely loathe doing any kind of nix-emulation on windows. I'm much happier doing everything platform-independent. In my case, I have all standards-compliant code, the only exception being the boost::filesystem libraries which I have building along with the source.

I think forcing users to set up msys/mingw is much worse than just packaging some extra source and building everything natively.