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Installation directory layout conventions

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This article describes the layout conventions used by vcpkg for the installation directory. The installation directory holds the files installed by each package. Port authors should ensure that their packages follow the conventions described in this article.

In classic mode, the installation directory is located in $VCPKG_ROOT/installed (where $VCPKG_ROOT is your vcpkg installation path). In manifest mode, each manifest file has a corresponding vcpkg_installed directory. The location of the installation directory can be changed with the --x-install-root option. Regardless of the operation mode, the layout of the installation directory remains the same.

The installation directory is created the first time a package is installed, if you don't see an installation directory try installing some packages first.

The root level of the installation directory contains:

  • A vcpkg directory which keeps track of installed packages and files
  • A directory for each triplet. Each triplet directory contains files installed by each package.

Triplet directories

The output of each package installation is contained in a triplet-specific directory. For example, packages installed for the x64-windows triplet are located in installed/x64-windows directory.

The layout for the subdirectories inside each triplet directory is the same:

Note

Some packages may produce files that don't match the conventions described here. Port authors should determine the final location of the produced files based on the purpose each file serves.

Subdirectory File type
bin Release .dll and .pdb files
debug/bin Debug .dll and .pdb files
debug/lib Debug .lib, .so, .dylib, and .a files
debug/lib/manual-link Manually-linkable debug .lib, .so, .dylib, and .a files
debug/plugins/<group> Runtime-load debug .dll files
debug/lib/pkgconfig Debug pkgconfig files (.pc)
include Header-files (.h, .hpp, .hxx)
lib Release .lib, .so, .dylib and .a files
lib/manual-link Manually-linkable release .lib, .so, .dylib, and .a files
lib/pkgconfig Pkgconfig files (.pc)
plugins/<group> Runtime-load release .dll files
share/<port> Additional configuration-independent files
share/<port>/copyright The license text for the package
share/<port>/usage Buildsystem integration instructions file
share/<port>/vcpkg-port-config.cmake Port-defined CMake functions and variables
share/<lowercase-package>/<package>Config.cmake CMake integration files for find_package(package)
share/<cmakepackagename>/vcpkg-cmake-wrapper.cmake CMake find_package(<cmakepackagename>) override
share/pkgconfig Configuration-independent pkgconfig files (.pc)
tools/<port> Executable tools

bin and debug/bin directories

On Windows, these directories contain DLL and PDB files for release and debug configuration respectively. Any executable file produced by a port should be moved to a tools/<port> directory.

include

Contains header files (.h, .hpp, .hxx). The layout under this directory should reflect the intended usage of the package's header files. For example, a contoso library that intends to use #include <contoso/contoso.h> should provide the header file include/contoso/contoso.h.

vcpkg forbids installing some reserved header file names in the root of the include directory, for example: err.h, user.h, time.h, and others. Libraries that provide a forbidden header file name should place their header files inside a include/<port> directory. If the library intends to replace a system header file, it should set the VCPKG_POLICY_ALLOW_RESTRICTED_HEADERS policy in its portfile.cmake.

lib and debug/lib directories

Contains static libraries, import libraries (on Windows), and shared libraries (on non-Windows).

Contains libraries that must be manually linked.

Files that may cause issues when linked automatically must be placed in the lib/manual-link folders instead of the lib directory. For example, if a library is intended to define the main() function for a program.

lib/pkgconfig, debug/lib/pkgconfig and share/pkgconfig directories

Contains pkgconfig integration files (.pc). A library should not provide configuration-dependent and configuration-independent files at the same time. For example: don't install lib/pkgconfig/contoso.pc and share/pkgconfig/contoso.pc.

plugins/<group> and debug/plugins/<group>

Contains shared libraries that are meant to be loaded during runtime by consuming applications.

share/<port>

Contains miscellaneous files installed by each port. For example, SPDX files, scripts, etc.

vcpkg expects ports to provide a copyright file that contains the license information of the installed package. See the maintainer guide for more information.

share/<port>/usage

A text file with instructions to integrate a library within a project. See the guide to provide usage documentation for packages for more information.

share/<lowercase-package>/<package>Config.cmake, share/<package>/<package>-config.cmake

CMake integration files should be placed in the share folder and respect CMake's rules for find_package(package) in CONFIG mode.

For example, if a port expect to provide find_package(MyPackage REQUIRED), it must provide either share/mypackage/MyPackageConfig.cmake or share/mypackage/MyPackage-config.cmake.

If a package provides CMake integration files, the vcpkg_cmake_config_fixup() helper function should be invoked to fix any non-relocatable paths and to merge build configurations.

tools/<port>

Important

vcpkg is first and foremost a C++ library dependency manager. Port authors should be deliberate when deciding to include tools in the installation output. For example: consider installing only a release executable when the debug tool is not needed.

Both release and debug executables should be provided when the executables are intended for runtime use.

Contains executable tools produced by a port. It is highly recommended, but not required, that each installed executable goes into a subdirectory matching the name of the port that produced it. For example, a contoso port might install a ContosoGenerator.exe to tools/contoso/ContosoGenerator.exe.

Some ports require that their executables go into a bin subdirectory, in which case the recommended pattern is tools/<port>/bin.