Is it possible to pack native binaries as a dotnet tool?

[paulomorgado]

I have a set of executables for different runtimes that I would like to pack as a dotnet tool.

Is that possible?

If so, how?

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

This suggests you can have <Command Runner="executable"> in a DotnetToolSettings.xml file:

sdk/src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Tool/ToolCommandSpecCreator.cs

Lines 14 to 33 in e6bc966

	if (toolRunner == "dotnet")
	{
	if (allowRollForward)
	{
	commandArguments = ["--allow-roll-forward", .. commandArguments];
	}
	return MuxerCommandSpecMaker.CreatePackageCommandSpecUsingMuxer(
	toolExecutable,
	commandArguments);
	}
	else if (toolRunner == "executable")
	{
	var escapedArgs = ArgumentEscaper.EscapeAndConcatenateArgArrayForProcessStart(
	commandArguments);
	return new CommandSpec(
	toolExecutable,
	escapedArgs);
	}

The DotnetToolSettings.xml file is generated here:

sdk/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.PackTool.targets

Lines 259 to 272 in e6bc966

	<Target Name="GenerateToolsSettingsFileFromBuildProperty"
	DependsOnTargets="_GenerateToolsSettingsFileInputCache"
	Inputs="$(_GenerateToolsSettingsFileCacheFile)"
	Outputs="$(_ToolsSettingsFilePath)">
	<GenerateToolsSettingsFile
	EntryPointRelativePath="$(ToolEntryPoint)"
	CommandName="$(ToolCommandName)"
	CommandRunner="$(ToolCommandRunner)"
	RuntimeIdentifier="$(ToolRuntimeIdentifier)"
	ToolPackageId="$(PackageId)"
	ToolPackageVersion="$(Version)"
	ToolPackageRuntimeIdentifiers="@(_ToolPackageRuntimeIdentifier)"
	ToolsSettingsFilePath="$(_ToolsSettingsFilePath)" />
	</Target>

The ToolCommandRunner property is set here, but it looks like you could also set it yourself:

sdk/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.PackTool.targets

Lines 155 to 158 in e6bc966

	<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(ToolCommandRunner)' == ''">
	<ToolCommandRunner Condition="!$(_ToolUsesPlatformSpecificExecutable)">dotnet</ToolCommandRunner>
	<ToolCommandRunner Condition="$(_ToolUsesPlatformSpecificExecutable)">executable</ToolCommandRunner>
	</PropertyGroup>

[paulomorgado]

I've been looking into that, but I haven't been able to find any documentation on the contents of the DotnetToolSettings.xml or what files are required for a dotnet tool.

For now, I'm authoring the nuspec by hand, because I need to pack executables download from other sources.

[paulomorgado]

How I'm tricking it now is packaging the native tools as shims:

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="../../build/Artifacts/DotNetTool/native/**/*" Link="native/%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)" PackagePath="tools/$(TargetFramework)/any/shims" Pack="True" />
  </ItemGroup>

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

The Runner="executable" feature seems to have started in #48575. I hoped that would have a link to a design document, but apparently not.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

There is a design document in dotnet/designs#333 though.