Triplets

Triplet is a standard term used in cross-compiling as a way to completely capture the target environment (CPU, OS, compiler, runtime, etc.) in a single, convenient name.

In vcpkg, triplets describe an imaginary "target configuration set" for every library. Within a triplet, libraries are generally built with the same configuration, but it is not a requirement. For example, you could have one triplet that builds openssl statically and zlib dynamically, one that builds them both statically, and one that builds them both dynamically (all for the same target OS and architecture).

A single build will consume files from up to two triplets: the target triplet and the host triplet. If you need to apply different settings for different libraries, you must make a single custom triplet with that combination of settings. See per-port customization for how to accomplish this.

vcpkg comes with pre-defined triplets for many common platforms and configurations. Run vcpkg help triplet to get the list of available in your environment.

Triplet selection

To select a target triplet:

• In classic mode:
  • Qualify package references with the triplet name, such as zlib:x64-windows-static-md.
  • Pass --triplet=<triplet>.
• In CMake:
  • Set VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET.
• In MSBuild:
  • Set VcpkgTriplet.

To select the host triplet for the current machine:

• In classic mode:
  • Pass --host-triplet=<triplet>.
• In CMake:
  • Set VCPKG_HOST_TRIPLET.
• In MSBuild:
  • Set VcpkgHostTriplet.

Community triplets

Triplets contained in the triplets\community folder are not tested by the curated registry's continuous integration, but are commonly requested by the community. Because we do not have continuous coverage, port updates may break compatibility with community triplets. We gladly accept and review contributions that aim to solve issues with these triplets.

When using a community triplet, a message like the following one will be printed during a package installation:

-- Using community triplet x86-uwp. This triplet configuration is not guaranteed to succeed.
-- [COMMUNITY] Loading triplet configuration from: D:\src\vcpkg\triplets\community\x86-uwp.cmake

Add or replace triplets

You can extend vcpkg by replacing in-the-box triplets or creating new triplets for your particular project.

First, copy a built-in triplet file from the triplets\ directory into a different filesystem location. Then, add that directory to the list of overlay triplet paths when interacting with vcpkg.

• In Manifest mode, you can use $.vcpkg-configuration.overlay-triplets.
• When using vcpkg from CMake, you can set VCPKG_OVERLAY_TRIPLETS.
• When using vcpkg from MSBuild, you can add --overlay-triplets=... to MSBuild Additional Options.
• When using the CLI directly, you can pass --overlay-triplets=....
• You can set the $VCPKG_OVERLAY_TRIPLETS environment variable to a list of overlay paths.

See our overlay triplets example for a more detailed walkthrough.

Remarks

The default triplet when running any vcpkg command is %VCPKG_DEFAULT_TRIPLET% or a platform-specific choice if that environment variable is undefined.

• Windows: x64-windows
• Linux: x64-linux
• OSX: x64-osx

We recommend using a systematic naming scheme when creating new triplets. The Android toolchain naming scheme is a good source of inspiration: https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/standalone_toolchain.html.