Get Dependency Tree of C++ Packages using vcpkg

In the realm of C++ development, managing dependencies is a crucial aspect of building robust and efficient applications. One powerful tool that simplifies the process of handling C++ libraries and their dependencies is vcpkg. The vcpkg offers a feature that enables to obtain a package dependency tree. This feature presents a visual representation of the relationships between packages, providing developers with insights into the complexity and hierarchy of their project's dependencies. This tutorial shows how to get dependency tree of C++ packages using vcpkg.

The depend-info option allows displaying all dependencies for a given package. For example, run the following command to get the dependency tree for libpng:

vcpkg depend-info libpng --format=tree

The command will display a tree structure illustrating the dependencies of the libpng package. Each node in the tree represents a dependency, and the hierarchy showcases the relationships between different components.

libpng
+-- vcpkg-cmake
+-- vcpkg-cmake-config
+-- zlib
    +-- vcpkg-cmake

This structure visually represents how libpng relies on zlib.