NuGet is a .NET package manager that is often used for C/C++ development,
particularly for MSBuild solutions that contain .NET projects. As a general rule, the
Microsoft C++ team does not recommend using NuGet for C/C++ development
because NuGet has several limitations:
Compilation flavors. Because NuGet cannot build packages from source on the fly,
it is necessary to provide prebuilt binaries to match all possible Application Binary
Interface (ABI) restrictions for all users. The user is responsible for correctly
building packages. It's also difficult to distinguish between binaries due to the lack
of relevant metadata. This results in the user putting architecture, operating
system, and compiler information in the package name. This is undesirable
because constraints on architecture, OS, and compiler information can't be
enforced during package acquisition.
Binary vs. source. NuGet is designed from the ground up to provide relatively
small, prebuilt binaries. Developers need to have access to the source code to
ensure ABI compatibility, performance, integrity, and debuggability.
No NuGet PackageReference support. NuGet PackageReference is not supported
for
.vcxproj
files and there isn't a plan to add it in the future due to technical and
architectural differences between C++ and .NET MSBuild projects. This means
NuGet C++ users won't benefit from features like the use of the global cache and
referencing dependencies in simple MSBuild terms with access to conditional logic.
Transitive ABI tracking. vcpkg rebuilds open-source dependencies impacted by a
change in a particular package. For example, if a new update is released for Boost,
vcpkg rebuilds all of the dependencies of Boost, and libraries that depend on
Boost, to ensure they still work. Pull requests to update libraries in the vcpkg repo
are not merged until build-time conflicts are addressed.
There are a wide variety of system package managers for Linux, macOS, and Windows
that can be used to acquire and manage C/C++ libraries. These package managers are
typically excellent choices for managing applications. But due to the generic nature of
their support, they often fail to deliver features beneficial particularly for C/C++
developers. While your mileage will vary, and some system package managers do
deliver some of these features, none have all of the following:
Redistributable developer assets: vcpkg can acquire redistributable developer
assets to help with debugging.
Prebuilt packages vs. build from source: vcpkg can build packages from source
based on your custom requirements. There is no need to deal with with prebuilt,
pre-compiled packages to get them to work.
vcpkg compared to system package managers
