--- /dev/null
+# vcpkg_acquire_msys
+
+The latest version of this document lives in the [vcpkg repo](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/docs/maintainers/vcpkg_acquire_msys.md).
+
+Download and prepare an MSYS2 instance.
+
+## Usage
+```cmake
+vcpkg_acquire_msys(<MSYS_ROOT_VAR>
+ PACKAGES <package>...
+ [NO_DEFAULT_PACKAGES]
+ [DIRECT_PACKAGES <URL> <SHA512> <URL> <SHA512> ...]
+)
+```
+
+## Parameters
+### MSYS_ROOT_VAR
+An out-variable that will be set to the path to MSYS2.
+
+### PACKAGES
+A list of packages to acquire in msys.
+
+To ensure a package is available: `vcpkg_acquire_msys(MSYS_ROOT PACKAGES make automake1.16)`
+
+### NO_DEFAULT_PACKAGES
+Exclude the normal base packages.
+
+The list of base packages includes: bash, coreutils, sed, grep, gawk, diffutils, make, and pkg-config
+
+### DIRECT_PACKAGES
+A list of URL/SHA512 pairs to acquire in msys.
+
+This parameter can be used by a port to privately extend the list of msys packages to be acquired.
+The URLs can be found on the msys2 website[1] and should be a direct archive link:
+
+ https://repo.msys2.org/mingw/i686/mingw-w64-i686-gettext-0.19.8.1-9-any.pkg.tar.zst
+
+[1] https://packages.msys2.org/search
+
+## Notes
+A call to `vcpkg_acquire_msys` will usually be followed by a call to `bash.exe`:
+```cmake
+vcpkg_acquire_msys(MSYS_ROOT)
+set(BASH ${MSYS_ROOT}/usr/bin/bash.exe)
+
+vcpkg_execute_required_process(
+ COMMAND ${BASH} --noprofile --norc "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}\\build.sh"
+ WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}/${TARGET_TRIPLET}-rel
+ LOGNAME build-${TARGET_TRIPLET}-rel
+)
+```
+
+## Examples
+
+* [ffmpeg](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/ports/ffmpeg/portfile.cmake)
+* [icu](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/ports/icu/portfile.cmake)
+* [libvpx](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/ports/libvpx/portfile.cmake)
+
+## Source
+[scripts/cmake/vcpkg\_acquire\_msys.cmake](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/scripts/cmake/vcpkg_acquire_msys.cmake)