VEBuild.link.msvc 1.0.3

ve.build.link.msvc

🚀 STATUS: v1.0.0 RC. MSVC Linker Provider for VEBuild.

ve.build.link.msvc is the implementation of linker abstractions for the Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) toolchain.

This package is responsible for invoking link.exe (for creating .exe and .dll) and lib.exe (for creating static libraries .lib). It automatically discovers paths to Windows SDK system libraries and configures the environment.

📦 Requirements

• OS: Windows (x64/ARM64).
• Tools: Visual Studio 2022 (or Build Tools) with C++ components installed.
• SDK: Windows 10/11 SDK (automatically discovered via Registry).

⚙️ Features

This package implements the ILinkTool interface and provides the following capabilities:

1. Auto-Discovery

You do not need to manually specify paths to link.exe or system .lib files. The package uses vswhere.exe and the Windows Registry to locate:

• The latest version of MSVC Tools.
• Windows SDK (ucrt and um folders).

2. Platform Support

The package automatically registers platforms in ve.build depending on the host architecture and installed components:

• Desktop: windows-x64, windows-x86, windows-arm64.
• UEFI Development: efi-x64, efi-x86, efi-arm64 (generates files with .efi extension and EFI_APPLICATION subsystem).

3. Configuration Mapping

Translates abstract settings from ve.build.link into specific MSVC flags:

💻 Usage

Typically, this package is used as part of the ve.build.msvc meta-package. However, you can reference it separately:

using ve.build.core;
using ve.build.link.link;
using ve.build.link.msvc.msvc; // Extension namespace

return await new HostBuilder()
    .project("sample", p => p
        .Type(ProjectType.EXE)
        .Sources("src")
    )
    // Register MSVC Linker
    .useMsvcLink(
        // Global configuration for LIB (Static Library)
        lib => {
            lib.extraFlag("/NOLOGO");
        },
        // Global configuration for LINK (Exe/Dll)
        link => {
            link.enableDebugInformation(DebugInformation.FULL);
            link.enableASLR(true);
        }
    )
    .build()
    .run(args);

🔧 Internal Logic

The MsvcLinkerExtension class performs the following steps:

1. Checks if running on Windows.
2. Searches for Visual Studio and Windows SDK installation paths.
3. Registers platforms (windows-x64, etc.).
4. Creates instances of MsvcLinkTool for each platform with correct paths to bin (host/target) and lib.

License

© 2025 VassalStudio. All rights reserved.