packages.config reference
The packages.config
file is used in some project types to maintain the list of packages referenced by the project. This allows NuGet to easily restore the project's dependencies when the project is to be transported to a different machine, such as a build server, without all those packages.
If used, packages.config
must be located in a project root. It's automatically created when the first NuGet operation is run, but can also be created manually before running any commands such as nuget restore
.
Projects that use PackageReference do not use packages.config
.
The schema is simple: following the standard XML header is a single <packages>
node that contains one or more <package>
elements, one for each reference. Each <package>
element can have the following attributes:
Attribute | Required | Description |
---|---|---|
id | Yes | The identifier of the package, such as Newtonsoft.json or Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc. |
version | Yes | The exact version of the package to install, such as 3.1.1 or 4.2.5.11-beta. A version string must have at least three numbers; a fourth is optional, as is a pre-release suffix. Ranges are not allowed. |
targetFramework | No | The target framework moniker (TFM) to apply when installing the package. This is initially set to the project's target when a package is installed. As a result, different <package> elements can have different TFMs. For example, if you create a project targeting .NET 4.5.2, packages installed at that point will use the TFM of net452. If you ;later retarget the project to .NET 4.6 and add more packages, those will use TFM of net46. A mismatch between the project's target and targetFramework attributes will generate warnings, in which case you can reinstall the affected packages. |
allowedVersions | No | A range of allowed versions for this package applied during package update (see Constraints on upgrade versions. It does not affect what package is installed during an install or restore operation. See Package versioning for syntax. The PackageManager UI also disables all versions outside the allowed range. |
developmentDependency | No | If the consuming project itself creates a NuGet package, setting this to true for a dependency prevents that package from being included when the consuming package is created. The default is false . |
The following packages.config
refers to two dependencies:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
<package id="jQuery" version="3.1.1" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="NLog" version="4.3.10" targetFramework="net46" />
</packages>
The following packages.config
refers to nine packages, but Microsoft.Net.Compilers
will not be included when building the consuming package because of the developmentDependency
attribute. The reference to Newtonsoft.Json also restricts updates to 8.x and 9.x versions only.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
<package id="Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform" version="1.0.0" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="Microsoft.Net.Compilers" version="1.0.0" targetFramework="net46" developmentDependency="true" />
<package id="Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure" version="1.0.0.0" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="Microsoft.Web.Xdt" version="2.1.1" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="8.0.3" allowedVersions="[8,10)" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="NuGet.Core" version="2.11.1" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="NuGet.Server" version="2.11.2" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="RouteMagic" version="1.3" targetFramework="net46" />
<package id="WebActivatorEx" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net46" />
</packages>