C++ Development Flow with 3rd Party Dependency [closed] - c++

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I'm a Python developer with some background in another language such as Ruby.
In both language, dependency is managed by package manager automatically, such as pip or gem. Anyone could install such dependency by calling pip install -r requirements.txt, and it will install the necessary dependency via Python Package Index. Although, there has been an option to build the dependency manually from the source and install into the project, it is not a recommended process, and I have not done it.
I notice that C++ unfortunately have different nature in how dependency is being resolved for some reason. (e.g. different compiler flavor, compiler parameters, platforms, etc...)
At the moment, I am learning C++ using VS2015. and I have been stumbled again and again upon these library dependencies matter. With VS2015, there is a dependency package manager like python, and it is NuGet. However, not every library is available in NuGet, in fact, there are a lot of library developed independent from its IDE.
First I'm trying to use Boost. There is a manual on how to build the project, but I'm not sure what I need. Do I need to build from source? or Perhaps I just need a library that has been readily available?
Same reason for another library that I found. (e.g. QT, yaml-cpp, googletest, etc..)They only have a document how to build, instead of how to install as dependency.
And Ultimately, I will need to use lots of 3rd party library to be more productive. So, here's some of my questions that are very related.
How do C++ developer normally include 3rd party library into their project (the flow of installation 3rd party library)?
Do I have to build from source everytime I want to include? or perhaps you just need the header file which you could just copy and paste into your project directory?
I'm working in team (git), do each of my team need to build the dependency manually? Can it be automate such that the process of including new library is transparent for everyone?
Or perhaps, I don't really understand what specific question do I need
to ask. But why it is so painful to reuse library in C++?
Do I miss some fundamental understanding of C++ environement?
I'm not sure how much relevance it is, but CMake as a build tool that most library uses to build their project. Do I really need to build these library project?
More Questions:
After building some libraries, some of them generate static library .lib or dynamic library .dll to be included into the project. So is it correct to copy these generated library in our project? Should this be committed into the source version control? Some libraries are very large, and we don't want to maintain it. Yet we need the entire team to get the library transparently.

Answer 1

I understand you situation quite well. You cannot see the forest because too many trees are standing in your way...
Let me get one thing clear before I start to address your specific questions:
Generally speaking, dependencies in C++ are not more complicated than in Python.
The command pip install -r requirements.txt will establish an internet connection and download the necessary libraries and files from a repository server to fulfill the requirements. Under the Linux operating system (Ubuntu) the command: sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev installs all required dependencies for boost. This is possible because there is a whole environment with servers that hold source-code as well as libraries and binaries that work together with the client programs (apt-get) that use it. This is exactly the same thing that the authors of pip have done for microsoft windows. microsoft themselves have never done this at the operating system level. They always left that to the programmer. NuGet is microsofts attempt to make-up for past mistakes.
Having this out of the way, let me address your questions:
It depends on the size of the 3rd party library. Small libraries like pugixml can be included as source in the source tree of your project. Bigger libraries like boost are better included as binary object code (library objects). Not all libraries do have binaries available to download (boost has), so you might be required to build from source. Bear in mind that all binaries are required to be built with exact the same compiler that you use in your project. The general steps to include it in your VS-Project:
Get the distribution files (either build from source or download and install binaries)
Add include paths to your Project:
Project > "projectname" properties > Configuration Properties > C/C++ > General > Additional Include Directories
Add paths to libraries:
Project > "projectname" properties > Configuration Properties > Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies.
No. You normally just use the header file. But it's better to add the path of the library into your project instead of copying the header file, because some projects (boost) have a huge hierarchy of header files.
It is a good idea that each member of your team has the same development environment with the same set of libraries installed. There are tools for this task: Chocolatey builds on top of NuGet and is therefore windows-affine. Vagrant deals with virtual boxes ands thus offers cross-platform development environments.
But more important is a decent source-control-management system. If you don't already use one - start using one Today!. This is the main collaboration-tool. It can really save your neck if you loose a developer machine.
There is another dependency problem: We've only addressed the development dependencies above. There is the problem of deployment dependencies:
your customers will need the libraries (*.dll files) that you have used for the development. You will need to package them as well into your deployment package (Installer). This is another issue which is probably already answered on SO.
Qt: if you start using Qt, I'd suggest that you start using their development environment Qt-Creator. This will automatically handle all dependencies. It will automatically detect the Visual Studio Compiler that you have installed, and use it. The IDE is quite close to Visual Studio.
CMake: No, it is not always required to use CMake to build a library project, some also include Makefiles. Others use CMake to produce Makefiles. "Follow the instructions" is the best advice I can give here.
Update 2015-10-24: paragraph point three reworked

Answer 2

How do C++ developer normally include 3rd party library into their
project (the flow of installation 3rd party library)?
It depends... There are a lot of ways, how to redistribute C++ libraries.
Do I have to build from source everytime I want to include? or perhaps
you just need the header file which you could just copy and paste into
your project directory?
For now, most C++ libraries contains two parts: binaries + header files. But often, there are a lot of problems, if compiler version of library is different with your compiler.
I'm working in team, do each of my team need to build the dependency
manually? Can it be automate such that the process of including new
library is transparent for everyone?
It depents on your team guidelines. You can choose what you want.
Or perhaps, I don't really understand what specific question do I need
to ask. But why it is so painful to reuse library in C++?
Because of some legacy of C. And because C++ is low-level language in compare with python/java/c#. C++ is supported by a lot of different platforms, including embedded. And ofter, it is not possible to install complex runtime on this platforms. So there are no mechanism to transparently link a "modules" in runtime.
Hopefully, there will be a normal support of modules in C++17 standard. And Microsoft will provide a technology preview of modules in C++ in MSVC 2015 update 1.
Do I miss some fundamental understanding of C++ environement?
Yes, I propose you to read about compiling and linking in C/C++. This two things are often come together, but they are different.
First, that you should mind: code in C/C++ is splitted in two parts: declaration (.h files) and implementation (.cpp files). .CPP files are compiled into binaries. .H files just declares an interfaces.