1. www.realdolmen.com
NUGET (ANTI-)PATTERNS:
TALES FROM THE TRENCHES
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 1

2. WHO AM I?
Xavier Decoster
Antwerp, Belgium
Technical Consultant, RealDolmen
Co-founder of MyGet.org
Microsoft Extended Experts Team
Author of Apress Pro NuGet
http://www.xavierdecoster.com
@xavierdecoster
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 2

3. IN THIS SESSION
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 3

4. IN THIS SESSION
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 4

5. #0 – USE PACKAGE RESTORE
 A source repository is for … sources
 What’s a package repository for?
 Impact of package restore
 No more duplication of same binaries
 Less merge conflicts (no binary diff)
 Maintain overview of consumed packages in single place
 Less network I/O (NuGet cache)
 Contra-argument: single point of failure
 Good remark: now deal with it!
 Disconnected from package source(s)?
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 5

6. #1 – USE SEMANTIC VERSIONING
Major Breaking changes
Minor Backwards compatible API additions/changes
Patch Bugfixes not affecting the API
PreRelease Tag Alpha, Beta, …, RC1, RC2, …
Build Build stamp, metadata, …
 NuGet versioning algorithm differs from SemVer
SemVer NuGet
v x SemVer Versioning Scheme major.minor.patch[-prerelease][+build]
v v NuGet pre-release package major.minor.patch-prerelease
v v NuGet release package major.minor.patch
x v Legacy Versioning Scheme major.minor.build.revision
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 6

7. #2 – DON’T USE 3-DOTS VERSIONING
 Even though NuGet supports it
 Not supported in SemVer
 Not supported in combination with pre-release tag
 Instead use 2-Dots SemVer notation
 Optionally with pre-release tag
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 7

8. #3 – MAINTAIN A SMOOTH UPGRADE PATH
 Don’t change Package ID along the way!
 Your packages will get stuck
 So will your consumers
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 8

9. #3 – MAINTAIN A SMOOTH UPGRADE PATH
MyGet.Core MyGet.Core
…
1.0.1-alpha00001 1.0.1-alpha00256
MyGet.Core
1.0.1-alpha
MyGet.Core
1.0.1
 Version Precedence
 1.0.1-alpha00001 < 1.0.1-alpha00256 < 1.0.1-alpha < 1.0.1
 Question: Where does 1.0.1-alpha2 fit?
 Don’t change Package ID along the way!
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 9

10. #4 – SPLIT PACKAGE REPOSITORIES BY AUDIENCE
MyGet.Core MyGet.Core
…
1.0.1-alpha00001 1.0.1-alpha00256
MyGet.Core
1.0.1-alpha
MyGet.Core
1.0.1
 Don’t pollute consumers’ repository with your internal
DEV builds
 MyGet.org is great at this: set up as many feeds as you want and
promote packages from one to another (including nuget.org!)
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 10

11. #5 – ONCE PUBLISHED, DON’T DELETE PACKAGES
 Unlist packages instead!
 Maintains upgrade path
 Still available through package restore
 Supported by NuGet.org and MyGet.org
 Using own NuGet server or file share?
 Remove user permissions to delete!
 Deleting
 Breaks package restore!
 Forces consumers to upgrade!
“Attempting to force a user to do something is both an exercise in futility and a
great way to guarantee that you have less users overall”
- Rob Reynolds
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 11

12. #6 – HAVE A FALLBACK REPOSITORY
 Backup consumed packages
 Mirror them on MyGet.org
 Download them
 Especially when using Package Restore
 From NuGet.org
 From any external feed
 Each consumer has local cache
 %LocalAppData%NuGetCache
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 12

13. #7 – LOOK FOR BINDING REDIRECTS
 Mitigates potential risk for conflicts
 During assembly resolution
<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="myAssembly" publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"
culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
 Investigate why
 Package versions not aligned?
Package upgrades & version alignment can reduce the
number of binding redirects
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 13

14. #8 – USE SAMPLE PACKAGE OR README.TXT
 Don’t pollute your actual packages
 Provide a readme.txt
 If you can’t automate the manual instructions
 If you want to have your consumers read some specific info
 Automatically presented to consumer during installation
 Use a sample package when appropriate
 Separate package  Different package ID
 Convention: {packageID}.Sample
 E.g.: NUnit  NUnit.Sample
 Sample package depends on actual package you want to ship
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 14

15. #8 – USE SAMPLE PACKAGE OR README.TXT
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 15

16. #9 – UNINSTALL SHOULD LEAVE NO TRACES
 Obvious, but often neglected/forgotten
 Be a good citizen
 Uninstall reverses installation + any side-effects
 Unless modifications happened
 Uninstall
 Any files copied (binaries, sources, content, scripts…)
 Tools package: any system modifications (PowerShell modules,
registry keys, environment variables…)
JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 16

17. http://www.xavierdecoster.com
@xavierdecoster
THANK YOU!
Questions?
Come get your MyGet
stickers, you might get lucky!

JANUARY 16, 2013 | SLIDE 17