The term 'cl' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet

[CJCombrink]

I am trying to build my C++ application using GitHub actions and added a step to use this action as follow:

      - name: Setup MSBuild
        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
        uses: microsoft/setup-msbuild@v1.0.1

msbuild is working, but not cl:
My Step:

      - name: Test MSBuild
        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          msbuild -version
          cl

Output is:

Run msbuild -version
  msbuild -version
  cl
  shell: C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.EXE -command ". '{0}'"
  env:
    OS: win32
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.7.0+b89cb5fde for .NET Framework
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

cl: D:\a\_temp\3109041e-6212-4b44-a224-795ce1d6037f.ps1:3
Line |
   3 |  cl
     |  ~~
     | The term 'cl' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
     | Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try
     | again.

Is this expected?

[timheuer]

@CJCombrink I think this is expected. The action simply finds and sets up the PATH for msbuild.exe and cl is not a part of that path.

[CJCombrink]

I think this is expected. The action simply finds and sets up the PATH for msbuild.exe and cl is not a part of that path.

Thanks, I am assuming this is valid for .Net applications. Unfortunately cl is needed for C++ applications.

[timheuer]

@CJCombrink there have been some discussions of enabling something similar for VC tools -- this action uses vswhere.exe to find things, and you could use similar techniques to get to the VCtools paths where cl.exe would be.

[CJCombrink]

@timheuer Thanks, I used the information from this link: microsoft/terminal#3821 (comment) to achieve adding the tools to the path in my action script with good success: https://github.com/CJCombrink/SpellChecker-Plugin/blob/master/.github/workflows/build.yaml#L214

With this I can build my C++ application using msbuild from withing a powershell core console.
Perhaps it can be useful for someone else having the same issue.