lukka/run-vcpkg Girhub Actions Boost not found

Question

I'm trying to use Github Actions and vcpkg packages with the lukka/run-vcpkg template, but CMake cannot find the package just installed by vcpkg:

Generating config files...
CMake Error at C:/Program Files/CMake/share/cmake-3.27/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:230 (message):
Error:   Could NOT find Boost (missing: Boost_INCLUDE_DIR program_options)
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Program Files/CMake/share/cmake-3.27/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:600 (_FPHSA_FAILURE_MESSAGE)
  C:/Program Files/CMake/share/cmake-3.27/Modules/FindBoost.cmake:2392 (find_package_handle_standard_args)
  D:/a/cpp-photobook/cpp-photobook/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake:855 (_find_package)
  CMakeLists.txt:44 (find_package)

What could be the problem? I'm bumping my head against this issue for some time.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3

    - name: run-vcpkg
      uses: lukka/[email protected]
      with:
        # Specify the full SHA-1 hash of a Git commit (not a branch name, nor a tag!) that establishes which version of vcpkg needs to be used. When using vcpkg as a Git submodule, this input is *not* needed as implicitly specified by the submodule.
        vcpkgGitCommitId: '9edb1b8e590cc086563301d735cae4b6e732d2d2'
        # Run the installation of packages by running `vcpkg install` on the directory of the discovered 'vcpkg.json' file. Default is false.
        runVcpkgInstall: true
        # Enable the caching of the vcpkg executable and its data files (e.g. ports) by setting it to false. Default is true. Set this input to false when the vcpkg's executable is not delivered as a prebuilt file upon bootstrapping vcpkg. This does not disable vcpkg's binary cache which is always on and can be controlled by the user with the env var VCPKG_BINARY_SOURCES.
        doNotCache: false
        # Specify the glob expression used to discover the vcpkg.json whose content's hash is added to the cache key. On Windows runners using `github.workspace` context to form the expression would not work as expected since it contains backslashes. Use instead `**/path/to/vcpkg.json` to match the desired `vcpkg.json` file.
        vcpkgJsonGlob: '**/windows/vcpkg.json'

    - name: Build library
      run: cmake -B library\build -S sources -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="${{ github.workspace }}\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake"

vcpkg.json

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vcpkg-tool/main/docs/vcpkg.schema.json",
  "dependencies": [
    "boost-program-options"
  ]
}

The logs showing that boost program-options is installed correctly:

 Additional packages (*) will be modified to complete this operation.
  A suitable version of 7zip was not found (required v21.7.0) Downloading portable 7zip 21.7.0...
  Downloading 7zip...
  https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z2107-extra.7z->D:\a\cpp-photobook\cpp-photobook\vcpkg\downloads\7z2107-extra.7z
  Downloading https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z2107-extra.7z
  Extracting 7zip...
  Restored 75 package(s) from GitHub Actions Cache in 39 s. Use --debug to see more details.
  Installing 1/75 vcpkg-cmake:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle vcpkg-cmake:x64-windows: 5 ms
  Installing 2/75 boost-uninstall:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-uninstall:x64-windows: 3.24 ms
  Installing 3/75 boost-vcpkg-helpers:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-vcpkg-helpers:x64-windows: 3.51 ms
  Installing 4/75 boost-config:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-config:x64-windows: 57.1 ms
  Installing 5/75 boost-static-assert:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-static-assert:x64-windows: 3.54 ms
  Installing 6/75 boost-type-traits:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-type-traits:x64-windows: 252 ms
  Installing 7/75 boost-assert:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-assert:x64-windows: 5.03 ms
  Installing 8/75 boost-throw-exception:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-throw-exception:x64-windows: 4.2 ms
  Installing 9/75 boost-preprocessor:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-preprocessor:x64-windows: 118 ms
  Installing 10/75 boost-io:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-io:x64-windows: 7.42 ms
  Installing 11/75 boost-core:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-core:x64-windows: 16.9 ms
  Installing 12/75 boost-utility:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-utility:x64-windows: 10.4 ms
  Installing 13/75 boost-move:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-move:x64-windows: 13.5 ms
  Installing 14/75 boost-smart-ptr:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-smart-ptr:x64-windows: 33.6 ms
  Installing 15/75 boost-predef:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-predef:x64-windows: 35.1 ms
  Installing 16/75 boost-detail:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-detail:x64-windows: 9.49 ms
  Installing 17/75 boost-optional:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-optional:x64-windows: 8.68 ms
  Installing 18/75 boost-mpl:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-mpl:x64-windows: 209 ms
  Installing 19/75 boost-typeof:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-typeof:x64-windows: 18.9 ms
  Installing 20/75 boost-tuple:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-tuple:x64-windows: 8.66 ms
  Installing 21/75 boost-function-types:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-function-types:x64-windows: 23.6 ms
  Installing 22/75 boost-bind:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-bind:x64-windows: 12.1 ms
  Installing 23/75 boost-function:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-function:x64-windows: 12.7 ms
  Installing 24/75 boost-functional:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-functional:x64-windows: 10.3 ms
  Installing 25/75 boost-mp11:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-mp11:x64-windows: 14.7 ms
  Installing 26/75 boost-describe:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-describe:x64-windows: 19.7 ms
  Installing 27/75 boost-container-hash:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-container-hash:x64-windows: 12.1 ms
  Installing 28/75 boost-fusion:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-fusion:x64-windows: 239 ms
  Installing 29/75 boost-conversion:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-conversion:x64-windows: 10.3 ms
  Installing 30/75 boost-concept-check:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-concept-check:x64-windows: 13.5 ms
  Installing 31/75 boost-iterator:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-iterator:x64-windows: 17.7 ms
  Installing 32/75 boost-tokenizer:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-tokenizer:x64-windows: 10.9 ms
  Installing 33/75 vcpkg-cmake-get-vars:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle vcpkg-cmake-get-vars:x64-windows: 10.9 ms
  Installing 34/75 boost-modular-build-helper:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-modular-build-helper:x64-windows: 15.8 ms
  Installing 35/75 boost-integer:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-integer:x64-windows: 19 ms
  Installing 36/75 boost-build:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-build:x64-windows: 463 ms
  Installing 37/75 boost-regex:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-regex:x64-windows: 33.5 ms
  Installing 38/75 boost-array:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-array:x64-windows: 11 ms
  Installing 39/75 boost-range:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-range:x64-windows: 39.7 ms
  Installing 40/75 boost-numeric-conversion:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-numeric-conversion:x64-windows: 18.8 ms
  Installing 41/75 boost-intrusive:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-intrusive:x64-windows: 31.2 ms
  Installing 42/75 boost-container:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-container:x64-windows: 33.9 ms
  Installing 43/75 boost-lexical-cast:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-lexical-cast:x64-windows: 15.8 ms
  Installing 44/75 boost-type-index:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-type-index:x64-windows: 16.1 ms
  Installing 45/75 boost-any:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-any:x64-windows: 13.4 ms
  Installing 46/75 boost-program-options:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-program-options:x64-windows: 18.9 ms
  Installing 47/75 boost-winapi:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-winapi:x64-windows: 35.9 ms
  Installing 48/75 boost-tti:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-tti:x64-windows: 28.1 ms
  Installing 49/75 boost-variant2:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-variant2:x64-windows: 12.8 ms
  Installing 50/75 boost-system:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-system:x64-windows: 27.8 ms
  Installing 51/75 boost-dynamic-bitset:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-dynamic-bitset:x64-windows: 15.4 ms
  Installing 52/75 boost-random:x64-windows...
  Elapsed time to handle boost-random:x64-windows: 37 ms
  Installing 53/75 boost-uuid:x64-windows...
[...]
 The package boost is compatible with built-in CMake targets:
  
      find_package(Boost REQUIRED [COMPONENTS <libs>...])
      target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE Boost::boost Boost::<lib1> Boost::<lib2> ...)

Answer 1

I was able to fix the problem using:

- name: vcpkg install
  run: vcpkg\vcpkg.exe install boost-program-options:x64-windows

- name: vcpkg integrate install
  run: vcpkg\vcpkg.exe integrate install

Answer 2

The root cause is that there is a mismatch in the vcpkg mode when you first run vcpkg install and afterwards when you run cmake -DCMAKE_TOOL_CHAIN=.../vcpkg.cmake: in the former case, vcpkg found the vcpkg.json file and vcpkg's manifest mode is being used, while in the latter case the vcpkg.json file is not found and the vcpkg's classic mode is used.

Why vcpkg.json is not found?

That happens because the file ./windows/vcpkg.json is missed by the standard search logic in vcpkg.cmake: it searches starting from the CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR, and then in the parent ones up to the file system root. Hence it will never see the vcpkg.json, which is in a subdirectory (i.e., windows) of the CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR.

Are the two vcpkg modes not playing well together?

Yes, they are not compatible since the installation directory used by vcpkg is different in the two modes, so the vcpkg is not able to find what was previously installed. This is the reason you see the error Could NOT find Boost....

There are various potential solutions, I describe three of them, all are implemented in the three jobs of this GitHub workflow:

1. Leverage VCPKG_MANIFEST_DIR to specify the location of the manifest file. This solution is implemented in job1 that is as close as possible to the one you provided. It runs vcpkg install first, which is something you can save yourself and let CMake do it for you, which is the next solution.

2. This second solution uses the job2 where vcpkg install is run as part of vcpkg.cmake execution (i.e., at CMake running time). The main advantage is that you ensure vcpkg is going to consistently run in manifest mode when installing the libraries and when searching for the libraries.

3. The last solution (job3) is leveraging CMakePresets.json, which along with the usage of vcpkg.json is absolutely my preferred solution, since allows me to drive the build with a document base approach which is used also by other tools like IDEs. And avoids any detail to be solely present in the GitHub action workflow, which makes harder to match you development inner loop with what the workflow (aka CI) is doing.