.netnuget-package

What is "Microsoft.NETCore.App.Host.win-x64" used for?


What is the NuGet package "Microsoft.NETCore.App.Host.win-x64" used for? I see that one of my projects downloads it from the feed, but I don't know why.

The package's description at nuget.org says:

Internal implementation package not meant for direct consumption. Please do not reference directly.

It must be a transitive dependency of one of the packages used in my project, but I have no idea which one.

Also, I noticed that the package is not copied to my Cache folder.

EDIT: Scratch that, I was wrong. It actually gets copied into the Cache as all the other NuGets do.


Solution

  • Reposting from the comments as an answer since its been 2 years:

    That's the .NET Core host, its job is to provide the apphost.exe you use to run your program. Copied and renamed from apphost.exe to project.exe when you build. It locates the proper runtime version, loads the CLR and gets the Main() entrypoint compiled. It is normally copied from disk, for example C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Host.win-x64\6.0.4\runtimes\win-x64\native on my machine. Why it reaches out to Nuget isn't obvious without a build trace, maybe you target a version that isn't installed.