When building on Windows, which command-line interpreter should I use?

[Jayman2000]

I’m working on a PR, and I want to test it out on Windows. The instructions for compiling Descent 3 on Windows say:

Building - Windows

Requires Visual Studio 2022 and C++ Tools (cmake and vcpkg)

Install and configure vcpkg:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg && bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
setx VCPKG_ROOT="C:\path\to\vcpkg"
setx PATH=%VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%

Build Descent 3:

cmake --preset win -D ENABLE_LOGGER=[ON|OFF]
cmake --build --preset win --config [Debug|Release]

Now that I’ve installed Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 with the “Desktop development with C++” workload, there are several new entries in my Start menu:

• Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022
• Developer PowerShell for VS 2022
• x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022
• x64_x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022
• x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022
• x86_x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022

In order to run the commands in the README, I need choose one of those command-line interpreters. Which one should I choose?

[SiriusTR]

I would probably use the first one (Developer Command Prompt). Technically you don't have to use any of them - you could just use cmd.exe - but there is some path configuration required for CMake, which it looks like VS already does for you in that environment.

[Jayman2000]

OK. I tried using the Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022, but I ran into several issues. When I tried to run the first setx command, this happened:

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>setx VCPKG_ROOT="D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg"
ERROR: Invalid syntax.
Type "SETX /?" for usage.

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>

According to SETX /? you’re supposed to do SETX <name> <value>, not SETX <name>=<value>. Once I figured that problem out, I ran into a different problem with the second setx command:

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>setx VCPKG_ROOT "D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg"

SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>setx PATH %VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%
ERROR: Invalid syntax. Default option is not allowed more than '2' time(s).
Type "SETX /?" for usage.

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>

The value of VCPKG_ROOT contains a space which causes %VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH% to expand into more than one argument. I was able to fix this problem by putting quotation marks around %VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%. Unfortunately, this lead to another problem:

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>setx PATH "%VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%"

WARNING: The data being saved is truncated to 1024 characters.

SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.

D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg>

Not only did that command permanently change my Path variable, it changed it to a bad truncated value. Previously, my Path variable looked like this:

After that setx command, my Path variable looked like this:

I had to revert my computer to a previous system restore point in order to undo the changes to my Path variable.

---

SETX appears to be the wrong command to use here. I tried using SET instead of SETX, and it seems to have worked:

D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo>set VCPKG_ROOT=D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg

D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo>set PATH=%VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%

D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo>cmake --preset win -D ENABLE_LOGGER=ON
Preset CMake variables:

  CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH="D:\VC\Not mine\vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"

-- Running vcpkg install
Detecting compiler hash for triplet x64-windows...
Compiler found: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/BuildTools/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.39.33519/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe
Detecting compiler hash for triplet x86-windows...
Compiler found: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/BuildTools/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.39.33519/bin/Hostx64/x86/cl.exe
All requested packages are currently installed.
Total install time: 1.5 us
The package gtest is compatible with built-in CMake targets:

    enable_testing()

    find_package(GTest CONFIG REQUIRED)
    target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE GTest::gtest GTest::gtest_main GTest::gmock GTest::gmock_main)

    add_test(AllTestsInMain main)

The package spdlog provides CMake targets:

    find_package(spdlog CONFIG REQUIRED)
    target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE spdlog::spdlog)

    # Or use the header-only version
    find_package(spdlog CONFIG REQUIRED)
    target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE spdlog::spdlog_header_only)

The package zlib is compatible with built-in CMake targets:

    find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
    target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE ZLIB::ZLIB)

-- Running vcpkg install - done
-- Selecting Windows SDK version 10.0.22621.0 to target Windows 10.0.22631.
Enabling Logging
-- Configuring done (3.7s)
-- Generating done (1.2s)
-- Build files have been written to: D:/VC/Partially mine/Descent3/repo/builds/win

D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo>cmake --build --preset win --config Debug
MSBuild version 17.9.8+b34f75857 for .NET Framework

  1>Checking Build System
  inetfile.vcxproj -> D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo\builds\win\netcon\inetfile\Debug\inetfile.lib
  […]
  Descent3.vcxproj -> D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo\builds\win\Descent3\Debug\Descent3.exe
  Building Custom Rule D:/VC/Partially mine/Descent3/repo/CMakeLists.txt

D:\VC\Partially mine\Descent3\repo>

Oddly enough, it looks like you need to use quotation marks when using SETX and like you need to not use quotation marks when using SET. When I use quotation marks with SET, it puts quotation marks in the value of the environment variable.