Can I compile DLLs without Visual Studio?

Question

My intention is to take a C++ library, wrap it for C# with SWIG (alt. link), and compile both C++ and C# components as DLLs for Unity 5. (The C# DLL provides Unity with an interface to the C++ DLL.)

To the best of my knowledge, compiling C++ and C# DLLs always requires Visual Studio (or tools like msbuild that come with VS). However, I am currently struggling to get VS installed, which has led me to question that assumption.

Are there any other options for compiling Unity-ready DLLs on Windows?

(Even if I get VS installed, I'm still curious to know.)

Answer 1

You can download a stand alone version of MSBuild and use that to compile you code, you don't need VS for that.

There's a walkthrough here:

msbuild buildapp.csproj /t:HelloWorld