Question

On Windows, using nmake, how can I include a rule that downloads a file from
a location? Something like wget, but on Windows.

Answer 1

On modern Windows (Vista, Windows 7, later), you have Powershell available, so you can do this:

# ==================================================================
_PS=${WINDIR}\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
OAUTHCS_URL=https://cropperplugins.svn.codeplex.com/svn/Cropper.Plugins/OAuth1.0/OAuth.cs

OAuth.cs:
    $(_PS) -Command "& {(new-object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('$(OAUTHCS_URL)','OAuth.cs')}"

If you don’t like to depend on powershell, you can use a wget command line tool for windows, like this:

CSC=\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\csc.exe

Oauth.cs: wget.exe 
    .\wget.exe $(OAUTHCS_URL)

wget.exe: wget.cs $(CSC)
    $(CSC) /t:exe /debug+ /out:wget.exe  wget.cs

The source for a usable wget tool is available here.