My Automated NuGet Workflow
- by Wes McClure
When we develop libraries (whether internal or public), it helps to have a rapid ability to make changes and test them in a consuming application. Building Setup the library with automatic versioning and a nuspec Setup library assembly version to auto increment build and revision AssemblyInfo –> [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")] This autoincrements build and revision based on time of build Major & Minor Major should be changed when you have breaking changes Minor should be changed once you have a solid new release During development I don’t increment these Create a nuspec, version this with the code nuspec - set version to <version>$version$</version> This uses the assembly’s version, which is auto-incrementing Make changes to code Run automated build (ruby/rake) run “rake nuget” nuget task builds nuget package and copies it to a local nuget feed I use an environment variable to point at this so I can change it on a machine level! The nuget command below assumes a nuspec is checked in called Library.nuspec next to the csproj file $projectSolution = 'src\\Library.sln'
$nugetFeedPath = ENV["NuGetDevFeed"]
msbuild :build => [:clean] do |msb|
msb.properties :configuration => :Release
msb.targets :Build
msb.solution = $projectSolution
end
task :nuget => [:build] do
sh "nuget pack src\\Library\\Library.csproj /OutputDirectory " + $nugetFeedPath
end
Setup the local nuget feed as a nuget package source (this is only required once per machine)
Go to the consuming project
Update the package
Update-Package Library
or Install-Package
TLDR
change library code
run “rake nuget”
run “Update-Package library” in the consuming application
build/test!
If you manually execute any of this process, especially copying files, you will find it a burden to develop the library and will find yourself dreading it, and even worse, making changes downstream instead of updating the shared library for everyone’s sake.
Publishing
Once you have a set of changes that you want to release, consider versioning and possibly increment the minor version if needed.
Pick the package out of your local feed, and copy it to a public / shared feed!
I have a script to do this where I can drop the package on a batch file
Replace apikey with your nuget feed's apikey
Take out the confirm(s) if you don't want them
@ECHO off
echo Upload %1?
set /P anykey="Hit enter to continue "
nuget push %1 apikey
set /P anykey="Done "
Note: helps to prune all the unnecessary versions during testing from your local feed once you are done and ready to publish
TLDR
consider version number
run command to copy to public feed
