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ReferenceResolution.md

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<Reference> resolution

Most project files in this repo should use <Reference> instead of <ProjectReference> or <PackageReference>. This was done to enable ASP.NET Core's unique requirements without requiring most ASP.NET Core contributors to understand the complex rules for how versions and references should work. The build system will resolve Reference items to the correct type and version of references based on our servicing and update rules.

See ResolveReferences.targets for the exact implementation of custom <Reference> resolutions.

The requirements that led to this system are:

  • Versions of external dependencies should be consistent.
  • Servicing updates of ASP.NET Core should minimize the number of assemblies which need to re-build and re-ship.
  • Newer versions of packages should not have lower dependency versions than previous releases.
  • Minimize the cascading effect of servicing updates where possible by keeping a consistent baseline of dependencies.

Recommendations for writing a .csproj

  • Use <Reference>.
  • Do not use <PackageReference>.
  • If you need to use a new package, add it to eng/Dependencies.props and eng/Versions.props.
  • If the package comes from a partner team and needs to have versions automatically updated, also add an entry eng/Version.Details.xml.
  • Only use <ProjectReference> in test projects.
  • Name the .csproj file to match the assembly name.
  • Run eng/scripts/GenerateProjectList.ps1 (or build.cmd /t:GenerateProjectList) when adding new projects
  • Use eng/tools/BaseLineGenerator/ if you need to update baselines.
  • If you need to make a breaking change to dependencies, you may need to add <SuppressBaselineReference>.

Important files

  • eng/Baseline.xml - this contains the 'baseline' of the latest servicing release for this branch. It should be modified and used to update the generated file, Baseline.Designer.props.
  • eng/Dependencies.props - contains a list of all package references that might be used in the repo.
  • eng/PatchConfig.props - lists which assemblies or packages are patching in the current build.
  • eng/ProjectReferences.props - lists which assemblies or packages might be available to be referenced as a local project.
  • eng/Versions.props - contains a list of versions which may be updated by automation. This is used by MSBuild to restore and build.
  • eng/Version.Details.xml - used by automation to update dependencies variables in other files.

Example: adding a new project

Steps for adding a new project to this repo.

  1. Create the .csproj
  2. Run eng/scripts/GenerateProjectList.ps1
  3. Add it to Extensions.sln

Example: adding a new dependency

Steps for adding a new package dependency to an existing project. Let's say I'm adding a dependency on System.Banana.

  1. Add the package to the .csproj file using <Reference Include="System.Banana" />
  2. Add an entry to eng/Dependencies.props, <LatestPackageReference Include="System.Banana" Version="0.0.1-beta-1" />
  3. If this package comes from another dotnet team and should be updated automatically by our bot...

    1. Change the LatestPackageReference entry to Version="$(SystemBananaPackageVersion)".

    2. Add an entry to eng/Versions.props like this <SystemBananaPackageVersion>0.0.1-beta-1</SystemBananaPackageVersion>.

    3. Add an entry to eng/Version.Details.xml like this:

      <ProductDependencies>
  <!-- ... -->
  <Dependency Name="System.Banana" Version="0.0.1-beta-1">
    <Uri>https://github.com/dotnet/corefx</Uri>
    <Sha>000000</Sha>
  </Dependency>
  <!-- ... -->
</ProductDependencies>

      If you don't know the commit hash of the source code used to produce "0.0.1-beta-1", you can use 000000 as a placeholder for Sha as its value is unimportant and will be updated the next time the bot runs.

      If the new dependency comes from dotnet/CoreFx, dotnet/code-setup or aspnet/Extensions, add a CoherentParentDependency attribute to the <Dependency> element as shown below. This example indicates the dotnet/CoreFx dependency version should be determined based on the build that produced the chosen Microsoft.NETCore.App. That is, the dotnet/CoreFx dependency and Microsoft.NETCore.App should be coherent.

      <Dependency Name="System.Banana" Version="0.0.1-beta-1" CoherentParentDependency="Microsoft.NETCore.App">
  <!-- ... -->
</Dependency>

      The attribute value should be "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging" for dotnet/core-setup dependencies and "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor" for aspnet/Extensions dependencies.

Example: make a breaking change to references

If Microsoft.AspNetCore.Banana in 2.1 had a reference to Microsoft.AspNetCore.Orange, but in 3.0 this reference is changing to Microsoft.AspNetCore.BetterThanOrange, you would need to make these changes to the .csproj file

<!-- in Microsoft.AspNetCore.Banana.csproj -->
  <ItemGroup>
-    <Reference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Orange" /> <!-- the old dependency -->
+    <Reference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.BetterThanOrange" /> <!-- the new dependency -->
+    <SuppressBaselineReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Orange" /> <!-- suppress as a known breaking change -->
  </ItemGroup>

Updating dependencies manually

If the dotnet-maestro bot has not correctly updated the dependencies, it may be worthwhile running darc manually:

  1. Install darc as described in https://github.com/dotnet/arcade/blob/master/Documentation/Darc.md#setting-up-your-darc-client
  2. Run darc update-dependencies --channel '.NET Core 3 Dev'
    • Use '.NET Core 3 Release' in a release/3.0-* branch
  3. git diff to confirm the tool's changes
  4. Proceed with usual commit and PR