Building earlier versions of a port

[johne53]

Yesterday I was experimenting here with one of the ports (glibmm) and at one stage the following message came up:-

Fetching registry information from https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg (HEAD)...
error: no version database entry for glibmm at 2.62.0.
Available versions:
2.80.1#1
2.80.1
2.78.1
2.76.0#1
2.76.0
2.74.0
2.70.0#1
2.70.0
2.68.1#2
2.68.1#1
2.68.1
2.68.0
2.52.1#14
2.52.1#13
2.52.1#12
2.52.1-11
2.52.1-10
2.52.1-9
2.52.1-8
2.52.1-7
2.52.1
See vcpkg help versioning or https://learn.microsoft.com/vcpkg/users/versioning?WT.mc_id=vcpkg_inproduct_cli for more information.
See https://learn.microsoft.com/vcpkg/users/versioning-troubleshooting?WT.mc_id=vcpkg_inproduct_cli for more information.
note: while loading glibmm@2.62.0

But for the life of me I can't remember what I did to see that message. Sometimes it'd be nice to know which of the earlier versions are available in a repo. Can anyone think what I might've done to see that?

[bas-van-der-woude-qps]

You can look up what versions of a package are available online (check the versions tab): https://vcpkg.io/en/package/glibmm
Or here: https://vcpkg.link/ports/glibmm/versions

As for how you got a non-existent version, the only thing that comes to mind is overrides: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcpkg/reference/vcpkg-json#overrides

[johne53]

Many thanks @bas-van-der-woude-qps that's very useful.

Let me ask a dumb question... up to now I've been given the impression that it's only possible to build earlier versions of a port when in Manifest mode but I must admit, I'm finding it a bit inflexible. For example, deleting a port that I've built can be quite difficult in Manifest mode and sometimes building one port will delete others that I've already built!! Is there no way I could try this in Classic mode?

[bas-van-der-woude-qps]

No clue, I've only used manifest mode. I've not found it as inflexible as you mentioned though. Deleting a port is as easy as removing it from the manifest and running vcpkg install, and I've not seen a scenario where building one port would delete another.

[johne53]

Oh, that's quite interesting... I started off here by building the glib port (and all the libraries it depends on of course) and I then tried to build some other port (can't remember which one now...) but Manifest mode told me it'd delete the previous libraries because none of them was needed by the new port. Have you found some way around that??

I guess you can build everything inside its own port but don't you then end up with all the libs / dlls and header files in lots of different places

[bas-van-der-woude-qps]

Oh, right. If you want a single library built in manifest mode, you'll probably have to do all of them that way. Haven't tried mixing classic and manifest mode but I'd assume it's not supported.

[johne53]

@bas-van-der-woude-qps - another thing I've heard about is a command-line option called --editable. Apparently it can be used when building a port to specify certain pre-built ports which shouldn't get changed or deleted. I'd assume that means it can be used in Manifest mode but I can't find any examples of how to use it. Is it something you've heard about?

[bas-van-der-woude-qps]

According to this, --editable is not supported in manifest mode

[dg0yt]

But for the life of me I can't remember what I did to see that message.

It is printed when you ask for a particular version which isn't known.