VETR gets BETA 4 - Build 2955

 

                                                                       Well Hello There!

VETR Beta 4: A Small Update That Quietly Changes Everything

VETR Beta 4 lands with a surprise twist: it marks a real shift in how the viewer builds itself. Completely by coincidence, this happened just as Linden Lab has been looking at alternatives to their long‑used autobuild system. I’ve never relied on autobuild—I’ve been running my own build setup since the S19 era—but I have been wanting to stop hosting my own dependency tarballs and paying AWS for the privilege.

That itch finally pushed something bigger into motion.

A New Build Era Powered by vcpkg

The headline change is simple: VETR now uses vcpkg for all the libraries it reasonably can. Vcpkg is Microsoft’s modern package manager for C/C++ libraries, and it brings something the viewer has never really had before: clean versioning, easy updates, and the ability to build everything with consistent optimisation.

It’s a big quality‑of‑life upgrade disguised as a build tweak.

What’s Actually Different?

PowerShell 7 Runs the Show

The build process now runs through PowerShell 7, which checks the environment, verifies tools like Git and MSBuild, and keeps everything predictable. It’s cleaner, faster, and far less brittle than the old scripts.

The Install XML Got Smarter

The install.xml file can now switch between classic tarballs or vcpkg, pick exact library versions, toggle features, and even apply custom optimisation profiles. It’s basically a control panel for the entire dependency heap.

Caching Makes Builds Faster.

Dependencies are cached locally and only refreshed when something actually changes. That means faster builds, easy rollbacks, and a system that feels more like a rolling Linux distro—fresh components baked in every time.

Why This Matters (Even If You Don’t Care About Build Systems)

• Updates become automatic. When upstream libraries improve, the next VETR build picks them up without fuss.
• Maintenance gets lighter. No more hosting tarballs or juggling AWS buckets.
• Performance may improve. Everything is compiled with viewer‑specific optimisation flags.
• The project becomes future‑proof. Modern tooling and reproducible builds make long‑term development far smoother.

It’s the kind of behind‑the‑scenes change that makes everything else easier.

A Quiet Step With Big Potential

Beta 4 wasn’t planned as a major architectural overhaul, but that’s exactly what it became. Moving to vcpkg and modernising the build pipeline opens the door to faster development, easier maintenance, and potentially better performance for everyone.

Give the Client a go and let me know if it works!

Much Love,

KL