latest macOS runners need vcpkg support

[gblikas]

VCPKG is a widely popular C++ dependency library, with minimal-setup caching support: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcpkg/consume/binary-caching-github-actions-cache. My opinion is that if VCPKG has been removed from the macOS runner images, then Github should come out with actions/setup-vcpkg.

The following macOS runners do not include VCPKG support:

• macOS-15
• macOS-15-arm64
• macOS-14
• macOS-14-arm64
• macOS-13-arm64

The following macOS runners do include VCPKG support:

• macOS 13
• macOS 12

additional context

• Linux and Windows have built-in VCPKG support.
• macos-latest doesn't point to a valid macOS install; macos-latest should be a desktop install, like with ubuntu-latest and windows-latest

[vaishalipawar1490]

Hi @gblikas,
Currently we are planning to keep the image size smaller, and prefer not to pre-install any item that could be installed during runtime. This would also reduce our maintenance concerns.
Please continue to install vcpkg at runtime, as it is straightforward to do so.
If our decision changes we will keep you posted.

[gblikas]

planning to keep the image size smaller, and prefer not to pre-install any item that could be installed during runtime

@vaishalipawar1490 is vcpkg such a large dependency that it cannot be built into the images? It seems like its okay for Windows and Linux runner images (and some macOS images).