getting vcpkg to build only release version

Question

I'm trying to build only the release version of packages because creating debug versions takes too long / too much space. Vcpkg docs state that:

Adding set(VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE release) in a triplet: will cause most ports to only build release

In terminal when I run set(VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE release) I get

syntax error near unexpected token 'VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE'

How do I fix this?

Unexceptional

Answer 1

You probably need to set it in your triplet file. Make a copy and rename one of those default triplet files, say "x64-windows.cmake" to "x64-windows-rel.cmake". Then add a line so that:

 
set(VCPKG_TARGET_ARCHITECTURE x64)
set(VCPKG_CRT_LINKAGE dynamic)
set(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE dynamic)
set(VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE release)

I think this will work on some libraries but not all, as it requires the libraries' own build files (CMakeLists.txt) to deal with it.

Horseback

Could it also be set on the command prompt before running vcpkg.exe? set VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE=release? – Meteorology

I don't think so. A quick search in vcpkg seems to suggest it doesn't check VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE in environment variable. – Horseback

Looks like VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE is not well supported. E.g., OpenCV's build fails if you set it since parts of the build scripts expect both release and debug are being built. – Meteorology

What if I want to let system detect triplet itself, and set only VCPKG_BUILD_TYPE? – Goth