Improve MSVC support

[G4Vi]

The MSVC releases do not include an import library (.lib) for extism.dll, only the static library .lib. The import library makes it possible to "link" to a DLL at build time instead of needing to LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress to use extism functions.

The libextism cmake file hasn't been tested on MSVC and probably should specify the needed dependencies to link the static version.

• add import .lib to releases
• support in-tree builds with libextism cmake
• Do cmake config mode packages work on Windows? If so Add building and installing cmake config mode package #623 is relevant.

Related to #141

[mhmd-azeez]

add import .lib to releases

This will be handled by #633

[mhmd-azeez]

@G4Vi

test and fix libextism cmake file with msvc

is this still relevant?

[G4Vi]

@mhmd-azeez

That is still relevant. However, another item to consider is vcpkg support. vcpkg support should enable users to build a project using libextism on all systems with the same cmake file.

There are two goals I'd like to accomplish:

1. Have a familiar / standard development experience using libextism on Windows (easy to use with visual studio c++)
2. Support cross-platform projects, use same repo and project files with minimal duplication, to build a project using libextism for Windows, Mac, Linux. (cmake packages, also cmake in-tree builds)

Goal 1 is more important than goal 2, but both are important. I trust your judgement on what next to proceed on.

I have revised this ticket with items I believe related to goals 1 and 2. Please let me know if you think we should go in a different direction to accomplish those goals.

Info on vcpkg:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcpkg/get_started/overview
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcpkg/get_started/get-started-packaging?pivots=shell-cmd

[mhmd-azeez]

Seems like vcpkg doesn't support rust libraries yet, and I couldn't find a workaround:

• [vcpkg-rust] Rust support microsoft/vcpkg#30251
• Support cargo (Rust) libraries microsoft/vcpkg#20619

But, there is some hope:
microsoft/vcpkg#30251 (comment)

We can revisit it later on after Rust support is added

[G4Vi]

Thanks for looking into vcpkg. Definitely something to watch, but it sounds like it doesn't have the functionality we need yet.