Installation Guide

Conan is a modern, Python‑based package manager that streamlines dependency handling, builds, and distribution for C and C++ projects. This guide walks you through the essential steps to get Conan up and running on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and shows how to integrate it with CMake in a way that feels natural to developers of all experience levels.

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+: Conan 2 requires Python 3.7 or newer. On Windows you can download the official installer or use the Microsoft Store. macOS and Linux usually ship with Python pre‑installed, but you may prefer a virtual environment or a package manager such as Homebrew, apt, or dnf.
• pip: The Python package installer is bundled with recent Python releases.
• Build tools: To compile C/C++ code you need a compiler and build system.
  • Windows: Visual Studio 2019+ (MSVC) or MinGW‑w64.
  • macOS: Xcode command line tools (xcode-select --install).
  • Linux: GCC/Clang plus make or cmake.

2. Installing Conan

• Global installation (system‑wide):

  pip install conan
  

  On Windows run the command in an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt.
• User‑level installation (recommended):

  pip install --user conan
  

  Make sure the user‑local bin directory (%APPDATA%\Python\PythonXX\Scripts on Windows, ~/.local/bin on Unix) is in your PATH.
• Virtual environment (isolated projects):

  python -m venv conan-env
  source conan-env/bin/activate   # Linux/macOS
  conan-env\Scripts\activate.bat   # Windows
  pip install conan
  

3. Verify the installation
Run conan --version. The output should display the Conan version and the path to the Python interpreter it is using.

4. Basic configuration

• Conan stores user settings in ~/.conan (Linux/macOS) or %APPDATA%\conan (Windows).
• Default remotes: Conan uses conancenter by default. You can list, add, or remove remotes:

  conan remote list
  conan remote add myremote https://myremote.com
  conan remote remove myremote
  

• Project file: Create a conanfile.txt or conanfile.py in your project root. A minimal conanfile.txt looks like:

  [requires]
  fmt/8.1.1
  
  [generators]
  cmake
  

  Conan will resolve dependencies and generate files for your build system.

5. Using Conan with CMake
Add the following to your CMakeLists.txt:

include(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/conanbuildinfo.cmake)
conan_basic_setup()

Build the project:

mkdir build && cd build
conan install .. --build=missing
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build .

6. Advanced configuration

• Profile customization: Create custom profiles in ~/.conan/profiles/. A profile can set compiler, architecture, build type, etc.

  conan profile new myprofile --detect
  conan profile update settings.compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11 myprofile
  

• Environment variables:
  • CONAN_USER_HOME – override the default user directory.
  • CONAN_LOG_LEVEL – set verbosity (debug, info, warning, error).
  • CONAN_CACHE – point to a different cache location.

7. Common troubleshooting

• Permission errors: Use --user or a virtual environment.
• Missing compiler: Ensure the compiler is in PATH and that the corresponding build tools are installed.
• Network issues: Check proxy settings (http_proxy, https_proxy) or use conan config set general.proxy="http://user:pass@proxy:port".

8. Uninstalling Conan
Run pip uninstall conan. If you want to clear all caches and settings, delete the ~/.conan directory.

With these steps you’ll have a fully functional Conan setup that keeps your C/C++ dependencies tidy, reproducible, and easy to manage across different platforms. Happy coding!