[wix-devs] WIP: Command-line Extension Acquisition and Cache

[Rob Mensching]

1. I have prototype code that uses the NuGet Client assemblies to download and extract .nupkgs. That's where I'll start.

2. I'm not 100% on the local cache either but Bob convinced me it was a good idea. I don't think a manifest is needed as I don't intend to add a restore function at this time. A dev would only need to use a few `wix extension add ExtensionId` calls to pull down the required extensions. If that turns into a huge problem, we can investigate a restore option later. I'll add this bullet to the WIP.

3. If a dev doesn't provide the version, the latest version is used. No wildcard'ing support from the command-line (maybe add that in WiX v16.6). <smile/>


-----Original Message-----
From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Sean Hall via wix-devs
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2020 4:59 PM
To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Cc: Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIP: Command-line Extension Acquisition and Cache

Based on "dotnet.exe tool", I think "wix.exe extension" makes sense.

Are we going to be implementing the nuget functionality ourselves or will we build on top of it? Basically I'm wondering how wix.exe knows where the feeds are.

I would vote to avoid having a local option. If we do have it, I would recommend keeping the same structure (.wix folder in the current directory). If we have a local option, then people are going to expect that we have a packages.config/dotnet-tools.json equivalent where there's have a manifest of all the extensions that the project needs with a corresponding restore command. But then again maybe we need that anyway? How does wix.exe pick which version to use?

For the MSBuild/dotnet build consideration (I would probably say dotnet msbuild by the way, dotnet build is mostly an alias for dotnet msbuild -restore), I agree. We should just rely on the underlying nuget functionality there.

I also agree on requiring the .wixext.

On Tue, Jun 2, 2020 at 3:25 AM Rob Mensching via wix-devs < wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> Last meeting WiX Extension availability for WiX v4 the first preview 
> was raised as an issue. In particular, since we are starting the 
> preview with only the command-line tools, the acquisition of 
> extensions from NuGet is a pretty poor experience. Over the weekend I 
> put together a proposal how to address that. I'm looking for feedback:
>
>
> https://wixtoolset.org/development/wips/6184-command-line-extension-ac
> quisition-and-cache/
>
>
> Regards,
>
>   Rob Mensching
>   CEO
>   FireGiant
> _______________________________________________________________
> FireGiant  |  Dedicated support for the WiX toolset  | 
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