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DailyBuilds.md

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Daily Builds

Daily builds are created automatically whenever a new commit is merged to the main branch. These builds are verified by more than 70,000 tests each running on a range of platforms. These builds are reliable and have significant advantages over using previews:

  • Previews typically lag behind daily builds by around three to five weeks. This means that each preview is missing many bug fixes and enhancements, even if you get it on the day it is released. The daily builds always have the latest features and bug fixes.
  • Serious bugs are usually fixed and available in a new daily build within one or two days--sometimes less. The same fix will likely not make a new preview/release for weeks.
  • You are able to provide feedback immediately on any change we make, which makes it more likely we will be able to take action on this feedback before the change is baked in.

A disadvantage of using daily builds is that there can be significant API churn for new features. However, this should only be an issue if you're trying out new features as they are being developed.

Package sources

The daily builds are not published to NuGet.org because the .NET build infrastructure is not set up for this. Instead they can be pulled from a custom NuGet package source. To access this custom source, create a NuGet.config file in the same directory as your .NET solution or projects.

There are two different NuGet package sources for daily builds as we transition from EF Core 5.0 to EF Core 6.0.

Package source for EF Core 5.0

Note that a feature complete release candidate with a go-live license is available now on NuGet. Daily builds are only needed for early access to the GA bits.

For EF Core 5.0 GA daily builds, NuGet.config should contain:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <packageSources>
        <add key="dotnet5" value="https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dnceng/public/_packaging/dotnet5/nuget/v3/index.json" />
        <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
    </packageSources>
</configuration>

Package source for EF Core 6.0

For EF Core 6.0 daily builds, NuGet.config should contain:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <packageSources>
        <add key="dotnet6" value="https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dnceng/public/_packaging/dotnet6/nuget/v3/index.json" />
        <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
    </packageSources>
</configuration>

Package versions to use

Using wildcards

The easiest way to use daily builds is with wildcards in project references. For example, for EF Core 6.0 daily builds:

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools" Version="6.0.0-*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design" Version="6.0.0-*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer" Version="6.0.0-*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NetTopologySuite" Version="6.0.0-*" />
  </ItemGroup>

Or for EF Core 5.0 GA daily builds:

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools" Version="5.0.0-rtm.*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design" Version="5.0.0-rtm.*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer" Version="5.0.0-rtm.*" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NetTopologySuite" Version="5.0.0-rtm.*" />
  </ItemGroup>

Using wildcards will cause NuGet to pull the latest daily build whenever packages are restored.

Using an explicit version

You can use your IDE to choose the latest version. For example, in Visual Studio:

image

Alternately, your IDE might provide auto-completion directly in the .csproj file:

image

What about Visual Studio and the SDK?

EF Core 5.0 targets .NET Standard 2.1. This means that:

  • Your application does not need to target .NET 5; .NET Core 3.1 is fine.
  • The daily builds should work with any IDE that supports .NET Core 3.1.
    • They do not require a Visual Studio preview release, although previews will also work.
  • The daily builds should work with either the .NET Core 3.1 SDK or the .NET 5 SDK installed.

Troubleshooting

Missing packages

The config files shown above contain the two NuGet package sources needed for EF Core and its dependencies. However, you may need to add additional package sources for daily builds of other projects, or your own internal packages.

In addition, packages may be missing if the standard nuget.org package source has been disabled elsewhere; adding the source in this config will not bring it back. To fix this, either don't disable nuget.org anywhere, or tell NuGet to ignore previously disabled sources:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <disabledPackageSources>
        <clear />
    </disabledPackageSources>
    <packageSources>
        <add key="dotnet6" value="https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dnceng/public/_packaging/dotnet6/nuget/v3/index.json" />
        <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
    </packageSources>
</configuration>

A good way to ensure you're dealing with a completely clean NuGet configuration is to clear both disabled package sources and previously configured package sources. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <disabledPackageSources>
        <clear />
    </disabledPackageSources>
    <packageSources>
        <clear />
        <add key="dotnet6" value="https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dnceng/public/_packaging/dotnet6/nuget/v3/index.json" />
        <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
    </packageSources>
</configuration>