dotnet-core/samples/dotnetsay

dotnetsay .NET Core Global Tools Sample

This sample demonstrates how to use and create .NET Core Global Tools. It works on Windows, macOS and Linux.

You must have .NET Core 2.1 or higher installed.

Try the pre-built dotnetsay Global Tool

You can quickly install and try the dotnetsay global tool from nuget.org using the following commands.

dotnet tool install -g dotnetsay
dotnetsay

Note: You may need to open a new command/terminal window the first time you install a tool.

You can uninstall the tool using the following command.

dotnet tool uninstall -g dotnetsay

Getting the sample

The easiest way to get the sample is by cloning the samples repository with git, using the following instructions.

git clone https://github.com/dotnet/core/

You can also download the repository as a zip.

Build the Tool from source

You can build and package the tool using the following commands. The instructions assume that you are in the root of the repository.

cd samples
cd dotnetsay
dotnet pack -c release -o nupkg
dotnet tool install --add-source .\nupkg -g dotnetsay
dotnetsay

Note: On macOS and Linux, .\nupkg will need be switched to ./nupkg to accomodate for the different slash directions.

You can uninstall the tool using the following command.

dotnet tool uninstall -g dotnetsay

The PackAsTool property in the project file enables packing a console application as a global tool, as you can see in the following simplified example. Applications must target .NET Core 2.1 or higher for global tools.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
    <PackAsTool>true</PackAsTool>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

Enabling SourceLink with Tools

You can make tools debuggable with sourcelink by adding the following properties and PackageReference. The example is specific to git and GitHub. See dotnet/sourcelink for other options.

<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishRepositoryUrl>true</PublishRepositoryUrl>
  <DebugType>embedded</DebugType>
  <EmbedUntrackedSources>true</EmbedUntrackedSources>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup Condition="'$(ContinuousIntegrationBuild)'=='true'">
  <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.SourceLink.GitHub" Version="1.0.0-beta-62909-01" PrivateAssets="All"/>
</ItemGroup>

Note: This example conditionalizes the PackageReference to the ContinuousIntegrationBuild property being set. There is no problem running SourceLink on every build, however, it will fail if it cannot find a .git directory. Given that behavior, it may be easier to use the approach shown above.

Use ContinuousIntegrationBuild when producing official builds. The simplest way to do that is by packing with an additional property set.

dotnet pack -c release -o nupkg /p:ContinuousIntegrationBuild=true

Make sure to build official packages from repositories with stable commit hashes. If you build from a branch whose commits are later squashed, then the commit hashs will not be found and sourcelink will not work correctly.

Debug Tools with Visual Studio

You can debug sourcelink-enabled .NET Core Global tools with Visual Studio, using the Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017. The following example launches dotnetsay for debugging:

devenv /debugexe c:\Users\rich\.dotnet\tools\dotnetsay.exe

Set Debugger Type to Managed (CoreCLR) in Properties. Then Step Into new instance from the Debug menu.

You will be asked if you want to download source from GitHub. After that, you will then be able to step through the execution of the tool.