Continuous Integration for Large Scale Package-Based C, C++ Projects With Conan2

Learn to implement efficient Continuous Integration processes for large-scale C and C++ projects using package-based development with Conan2 in this conference talk from ACCU 2025. Explore the two main paradigms for developing large-scale C/C++ projects—mono-repos versus package-based development—and understand their respective advantages and challenges. Discover how Conan2's new tools enable computation of which packages need building, determining the specific order and parallelism required for efficient CI processes. Master the concept of "products pipeline" as a scalable approach that focuses on business value while maintaining efficiency, including how dependency graph build orders are computed for different products across various configurations (platform, compiler, build_type). Understand the novel model for dependencies' effects on package binaries, considering versioning schemes and package types (header-only, static library, shared library, application). Learn how different computed graph "build-orders" can be merged into a single one to eliminate duplicated builds and how the final merged build-order can be distributed efficiently to different build agents with parallel processing capabilities. Examine the critical role of lockfiles in maintaining consistency and reproducibility when dealing with concurrent changes in dependencies. Explore the concept of CI process stages using multiple server repositories and package copying across repositories, known as package promotions—a DevOps best practice essential for preventing disruptions to developers and production systems. The presentation combines theoretical foundations with a complete real-world example including available source code to demonstrate all presented functionalities, delivered by Diego Rodriguez-Losada, co-creator and project lead of the Conan C/C++ package manager and Lead Architect at JFrog.