0

I'm new to .NET, and have the following issue: I've written a simple application that references a few NuGet packages. I'd like to create an executable for my project, that can be run on one of our Windows servers. The myproject.exe file that Visual Studio generates for me doesn't seem to include the referenced NuGet packages, which mean I can't copy the myproject.exe file over to our Windows server and run it there.

How can I go about creating an .exe file that includes all the dependencies my application requires, so that it can be run on our Windows server?

DerStarkeBaer
  • 669
  • 8
  • 28
protoken
  • 319
  • 4
  • 10
  • 4
    Executable can not be include all the dependencies. You might want to consider creating an installer packager which you can run on the server to install the exe along with all the dependencies. – Chetan Dec 05 '19 at 10:41
  • 1
    Possible duplicate of [Can a .NET windows application be compressed into a single .exe?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/126611/can-a-net-windows-application-be-compressed-into-a-single-exe) – GSerg Dec 05 '19 at 10:42
  • 1
    @GSerg It could be, but I don't think want the asker is really trying to achieve (it should not be necessary to ILMerge to run this on a Windows Server unless their deployment strategy only allows them to move one file). – Adam Dec 05 '19 at 10:46

1 Answers1

2

You could consider ILMerge if a single executable is really what you are after (see https://github.com/dotnet/ILMerge).

However, that shouldn't be necessary to run your application on a Windows Server. The bin directory, by default, usually contains everything you need to deploy your solution (so all of its contents as well as your executable should be copied).

Adam
  • 347
  • 5
  • 23
  • Thanks for the information. So it's common in the .NET community to simply zip down the exe + dll files, ship them over to a server, unzip and run? – protoken Dec 05 '19 at 12:45
  • 1
    @protoken Yes, unless your application is very simple it is unlikely to just require a single executable. In a more complex environment you may not need to copy all of the DLLs if some are already on the target machine (in something called the global assembly cache, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/app-domains/gac). I wouldn't worry about that complication though until you have a real need to use the GAC (it's much easier to just provide your dependencies in your application's immediate probing path by copying the whole bin folder). – Adam Dec 05 '19 at 12:56
  • 2
    @protoken Just to add that there are other deployment strategies, such as creating an MSI installer to deploy all the files you require on to a target machine, which you would want to do if deploying to a wider audience. But if you are deploying to a single server under your control then again, it's not a complication you need to worry about (if you want something beyond copying a zip file, consider using your build process/server to deploy or exploring something like ClickOnce, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/deployment/clickonce-security-and-deployment?view=vs-2019). – Adam Dec 05 '19 at 12:59
  • Thanks for the information. I'm on the fence deciding on whether to go for the zip approach or simply put everything in a Docker container and deploy that. Anyways, thanks for your input! – protoken Dec 05 '19 at 13:30