Don't include dependencies from packages.config file when creating NuGet package

Question

I am using Nuget to create packages. I would like to create a package which does not contain any dependencies (in the .nuspec) file to any other NuGet packages. My project does have NuGet package dependencies defined in its packages.config file.

First I create the .nuspec file...

C:\code\MySolution>.nuget\nuget.exe spec MyProject\MyProject.csproj

I edit the generated .nuspec file to be minimal, with no dependencies.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
  <metadata>
    <id>MyProject</id>
    <version>1.2.3</version>
    <title>MyProject</title>
    <authors>Example</authors>
    <owners>Example</owners>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <description>Example</description>
    <copyright>Copyright 2013 Example</copyright>
    <tags>example</tags>
    <dependencies />
  </metadata>
</package>

Then I build the solution and create a NuGet package...

C:\code\MySolution>.nuget\nuget.exe pack MyProject\MyProject.csproj -Verbosity detailed

Here is the output of that command...

Attempting to build package from 'MyProject.csproj'.
Packing files from 'C:\code\MySolution\MyProject\bin\Debug'.
Using 'MyProject.nuspec' for metadata.
Found packages.config. Using packages listed as dependencies

Id: MyProject
Version: 1.2.3
Authors: Example
Description: Example
Tags: example
Dependencies: Google.ProtocolBuffers (= 2.4.1.473)

Added file 'lib\net40\MyProject.dll'.

Successfully created package 'C:\code\MySolution\MyProject.1.2.3.nupkg'.

The .nupkg package that is created has a .nuspec file contained within it but it includes a dependencies section which I did not have in the original .nuspec file...

<dependencies>
  <dependency id="Google.ProtocolBuffers" version="2.4.1.473" />
</dependencies>

I believe this is happening because of this... (from the output above)

Found packages.config. Using packages listed as dependencies

How can I make NuGet not automatically resolve dependencies and insert them into the .nuspec file which is generated from the pack command?

I am using NuGet 2.2 currently. Also, I don't think that this behaviour happened in older version of NuGet; is this a new "feature"? I couldn't find any documentation describing this "feature" or when it was implemented.

Solution 1

In version 2.7 there is an option called developmentDependency that can be set into package.config to avoid including dependency.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
    <package id="jQuery" version="1.5.2" />
    <package id="netfx-Guard" version="1.3.3.2" developmentDependency="true" />
    <package id="microsoft-web-helpers" version="1.15" />
</packages>

Solution 2

Prevent your package from being dependent on other packages

As of NuGet 2.7 there is a new developmentDependency attribute that can be added to a package node in your project's packages.config file. So if your project includes a NuGet package that you don't want your NuGet package to include as a dependency, you can use this attribute like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="CreateNewNuGetPackageFromProjectAfterEachBuild" version="1.8.1-Prerelease1" targetFramework="net45" developmentDependency="true" />
</packages>

The important bit that you need to add here is developmentDependency="true".

Prevent your development package from being depended on by other packages

If you are creating a development NuGet package for others to consume, that you know they will not want to have as a dependency in their packages, then you can avoid users having to manually add that attribute to their packages.config file by using the NuGet 2.8 developmentDependency attribute in the metadata section of your .nuspec file. This will automatically add the developmentDependency attribute to the packages.config file when the your package is installed by others. The catch here is that it requires the user to have at least NuGet 2.8 installed. Luckily, we can make use of the NuGet 2.5 minClientVersion attribute to ensure that users have at least v2.8 installed; otherwise they will be notified that they need to update their NuGet client before they can install the package.

I have a development NuGet package that this was perfect for. Here is what my .nuspec file looks like, showing how to use the minClientVersion and developmentDependency attributes (lines 3 and 20 respectively):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2011/08/nuspec.xsd">
  <metadata minClientVersion="2.8">
    <id>CreateNewNuGetPackageFromProjectAfterEachBuild</id>
    <version>1.8.1-Prerelease1</version>
    <title>Create New NuGet Package From Project After Each Build</title>
    <authors>Daniel Schroeder,iQmetrix</authors>
    <owners>Daniel Schroeder,iQmetrix</owners>
    <licenseUrl>https://newnugetpackage.codeplex.com/license</licenseUrl>
    <projectUrl>https://newnugetpackage.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=NuGet%20Package%20To%20Create%20A%20NuGet%20Package%20From%20Your%20Project%20After%20Every%20Build</projectUrl>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <description>Automatically creates a NuGet package from your project each time it builds. The NuGet package is placed in the project's output directory.
    If you want to use a .nuspec file, place it in the same directory as the project's project file (e.g. .csproj, .vbproj, .fsproj).
    This adds a PostBuildScripts folder to your project to house the PowerShell script that is called from the project's Post-Build event to create the NuGet package.
    If it does not seem to be working, check the Output window for any errors that may have occurred.</description>
    <summary>Automatically creates a NuGet package from your project each time it builds.</summary>
    <releaseNotes>- Changed to use new NuGet built-in method of marking this package as a developmentDependency (now requires NuGet client 2.8 or higher to download this package).</releaseNotes>
    <copyright>Daniel Schroeder 2013</copyright>
    <tags>Auto Automatic Automatically Build Pack Create New NuGet Package From Project After Each Build On PowerShell Power Shell .nupkg new nuget package NewNuGetPackage New-NuGetPackage</tags>
    <developmentDependency>true</developmentDependency>
  </metadata>
  <files>
    <file src="..\New-NuGetPackage.ps1" target="content\PostBuildScripts\New-NuGetPackage.ps1" />
    <file src="Content\NuGet.exe" target="content\PostBuildScripts\NuGet.exe" />
    <file src="Content\BuildNewPackage-RanAutomatically.ps1" target="content\PostBuildScripts\BuildNewPackage-RanAutomatically.ps1" />
    <file src="Content\UploadPackage-RunManually.ps1" target="content\PostBuildScripts\UploadPackage-RunManually.ps1" />
    <file src="Content\UploadPackage-RunManually.bat" target="content\PostBuildScripts\UploadPackage-RunManually.bat" />
    <file src="tools\Install.ps1" target="tools\Install.ps1" />
    <file src="tools\Uninstall.ps1" target="tools\Uninstall.ps1" />
  </files>
</package>

If you don't want to force your users to have at least NuGet v2.8 installed before they can use your package, then you can use the solution I came up with and blogged about before the NuGet 2.8 developmentDependency attribute existed.

Solution 3

If you are using the PackageReference element instead of package.config file, here is the solution:

<PackageReference Include="Nerdbank.GitVersioning" Version="1.5.28-rc" PrivateAssets="All" />

or

<PackageReference Include="Nerdbank.GitVersioning" Version="1.5.28-rc">
   <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
</PackageReference>

Related GitHub discussion

Solution 4

You can explicitly specify which files to include then run the pack command on the nuspec file itself.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
  <metadata>
    <id>MyProject</id>
    <version>1.2.3</version>
    <title>MyProject</title>
    <authors>Example</authors>
    <owners>Example</owners>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <description>Example</description>
    <copyright>Copyright 2013 Example</copyright>
    <tags>example</tags>
    <dependencies />
  </metadata>

  <files>
    <file src="bin\Release\MyProject.dll" target="lib" />
  </files>

</package>

You should set the src attribute with the path that is relative to the nuspec file here. Then you can run the pack command.

nuget.exe pack MyProject\MyProject.nuspec

Solution 5

According to issue #1956 (https://nuget.codeplex.com/workitem/1956) and pull request 3998 (https://nuget.codeplex.com/SourceControl/network/forks/adamralph/nuget/contribution/3998) this feature has been included in the 2.4 release 2.7 release.

However I'm not able to find documentation about the feature, and I still haven't figured how to use it. Please update this answer if anyone knows.

Update: Issue #1956 has been updated by the developer. The feature was not included in the 2.4 release, but delayed to the upcoming 2.7 release. That's why it's not documented yet.

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