The Great Newtonsoft.Json.nuspec Collaboration

Newtonsoft.Json.nuspec

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2010/07/nuspec.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <id>Newtonsoft.Json</id>
    <version></version>
    <title>Json.NET</title>
    <description>Json.NET is a popular high-performance JSON framework for .NET</description>
    <authors>James Newton-King</authors>
    <language>en-US</language>
    <projectUrl>http://www.newtonsoft.com/json</projectUrl>
    <iconUrl>http://www.newtonsoft.com/content/images/nugeticon.png</iconUrl>
    <licenseUrl>https://raw.github.com/JamesNK/Newtonsoft.Json/master/LICENSE.md</licenseUrl>
    <tags>json</tags>
    <dependencies>
      <group targetFramework="net45" />
      <group targetFramework="wp8" />
      <group targetFramework="win8" />
      <group targetFramework="wpa81" />
      <group targetFramework="xamarin.ios" />
      <group targetFramework="monotouch" />
      <group targetFramework="monoandroid" />
      <group targetFramework=".NETPlatform5.0">
        <dependency id="Microsoft.CSharp" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Collections" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Collections.Concurrent" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Diagnostics.Debug" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Diagnostics.Tools" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Dynamic.Runtime" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Globalization" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.IO" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Linq" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Linq.Expressions" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.ObjectModel" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Reflection" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Reflection.Extensions" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Runtime" version="4.0.20" />
        <dependency id="System.Runtime.Extensions" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Runtime.Numerics" version="4.0.0" />
        <dependency id="System.Runtime.Serialization.Primitives" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Text.Encoding" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Text.Encoding.Extensions" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Text.RegularExpressions" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Threading" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Threading.Tasks" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Xml.ReaderWriter" version="4.0.10" />
        <dependency id="System.Xml.XDocument" version="4.0.10" />
      </group>
    </dependencies>
  </metadata>
</package>

It doesn't evaluate dotnet and then fallback to portable-* if dotnet isn't compatible (though an argument could be made that it should!)

+1. Despite what we had all hoped, it does not do this (and at this point, we shouldn't expect that it ever will, because that would fundamentally change the design of the system). This is the key takeaway:

By default, anything which is eligible to use System.Runtime will be assumed to be compatible with dotnet. This includes all the way back to net45, win8, wp8, and wpa81 (plus the net45-alikes, like Xamarin).

The only way to tell NuGet that your dotnet library is not compatible with these things, but an alternative exists, is to list it explicitly. This means you need at a bare minimum a platform-specific library; also, if the dependencies listed for dotnet are not appropriate, you also need a platform-specific dependency group.

IMO, this is all made worse by the Visual Studio tooling pretty much making you assume that dotnet == net46+uwp10.0+dnxcore50. You can make your dotnet library actually compatible with the all the down-level platforms (we did it with xUnit.net's execution library) by throwing away the tooling default project.json and being explicit about your dependencies.

@bradwilson I generally agree with your assesment, we are looking at ways to
a. Clearly document what needs to be done
b. Improve the system so its not so sucky.

So bare with us for a few more days until we can figure out how to make it better

@JamesNK and about testing - we should provide an easier way to test at least the restore using nuget.exe. It will be kinda hard to verify 100% because with project.json you depend on msbuild to do the right thing as well.

So this isn't true then...

This moniker is not directly tied to any specific version or framework capabilities, but rather is an indirect reference that tells NuGet: “this is the reference you should use if it supports the framework and runtime capabilities that you have”. The NuGet client will then investigate that reference to determine what features and frameworks it supports. This process continues until the NuGet client resolves the exact features supported by the dotnet reference and will then apply it if and only if it matches the features and requirements of your project. The dotnet moniker can be referenced by .NET Framework 4.5 and later derived framework versions including Xamarin Android and Xamarin iOS.

http://blog.nuget.org/20150729/Introducing-nuget-uwp.html

As far as I can tell dotnet is useless. It hides portable-* for win8/wp8/wpa81/net45 so the assembly in dotnet has to be compatible with all those targets.

Going to fix the blog