Downloading Libraries / Recompiling / Etc.

[JohnDeBord]

So I check out a library I'm interested in on GitHub (qt, opengl, etc.). I download a zip file; unzip it to my desktop; and put it in an appropriate folder.

Now I search and search and search and search online on how to use it in a project in visual studio.

All this terminology gets thrown at me: "You have to recompile it", "You have to build it", etc. Ok.

Can someone please point me in the right direction on how to build these libraries, and then how to use them in visual studio (Or manually using GCC to get a better understanding of what's going on).

It would be cool if someone just told me what to do step by step.
e.g.
1) Do this
2) Then do this
3) Then do this and that
4) Then this

I can figure out what's going on, on my own.

Thanks.

[JLBorges]

> Can someone please point me in the right direction on how to build these libraries,
> and then how to use them in visual studio

If it is one of the supported libraries (362 at present), use VcPkg
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/09/19/vcpkg-a-tool-to-acquire-and-build-c-open-source-libraries-on-windows/

> Or manually using GCC to get a better understanding of what's going on

The specific details vary from library to library. Learning to use these widely used tools would be helpful:
gmake: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html
cmake: https://cmake.org/cmake-tutorial/
GNU autotools: https://www.lrde.epita.fr/~adl/dl/autotools.pdf

[JohnDeBord]

THANKS ALOT JLBORGES!! How the heck have I not seen this until now??