.NET Core runtime/sdk versioning with .NET 461?

Question

I'm getting more and more confused with .NET Core's SDK and runtime versioning, and I doubt I'm the only one. I want to get a few things straight.

I've created an ASP.NET Core application targeting .NET 4.6.1 - it hits 4.6.1 libraries and Net Standard libraries. Recently I made the switch from project.json to csproj as part of the VS2017 rollout. The 1.1.1 runtime came out with SDK 1.0.1 a few weeks ago, which I downloaded ( https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/master/release-notes/download-archive.md ).

dotnet --version gives me the correct SDK (1.0.1)

However, typing "dotnet" into cmd I see "Version : 1.1.0". Shouldn't this say 1.1.1? My Programs and Features shows that the 1.1.1 runtime is installed.

Fast forward to hosting my app: I install the latest windows server hosting package to host on IIS according to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/publishing/iis , that is 1.0.4&1.1.1. Installing this on my server installs "Microsoft .NET Core 1.0.4 & 1.1.1 - Windows Server Hosting" and "Microsoft .NET Core 1.0.4 - Runtime". Shouldn't it have also installed the 1.1.1 runtime? It works, so maybe it's not necessary.

Ultimately, my questions are the following:

1. Does the runtime version matter when targeting .NET 4.6.1 at all?
2. Is runtime just used to run the AspNetCoreModule for the IIS to kestrel reverse proxy?
3. Will installing new Windows Hosting packages break existing projects already running on the servers?
4. Does .Net's netstandard packages (such as MVC) versioning correspond in any way to the runtime version, or is it just regular semantic versioning? The newest versions of most "Microsoft.AspNetCore.X" packages are 1.1.1.

Answer 1

I'm in the same situation, compiling my ASP.NET Core app against the full .NET Framework (4.5.2 in my case) and deploying it on IIS. Hopefully I can help.

When using the full .NET framework, you need to install the SDK on your developper machine to compile, but to deploy it on an IIS server you don't need any .NET Core runtime installed at all. On my IIS server, I just need .NET Framework installed and then I'm installing the "Windows Server Hosting" as suggested here: https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/master/release-notes/download-archives/1.0.4-download.md with a command line that won't even install any .NET Core on my server:

DotNetCore.1.0.4_1.1.1-WindowsHosting.exe OPT_INSTALL_LTS_REDIST=0 OPT_INSTALL_FTS_REDIST=0

This installation is super quick and is just deploying the minimum amount of files IIS needs to run your .NET Core app, which is mainly the aspnetcore.dll. I don't even have a directory "C:\\Program Files\\dotnet" (so no runtime or sdk) on my server and my app is working fine.

So, I would say:

1. no, it doesn't matter, it won't run against any .NET Core runtime
2. no, AspNetCore.dll is a C++ module ( https://github.com/aspnet/AspNetCoreModule )
3. I don't see how it could break anything
4. at the moment, when you add a Nuget package in your ASP.NET Core app, its versionning seems quite independant to me, that's why Microsoft is now providing metapackage to help people using the proper set of Nuget package ( https://andrewlock.net/what-is-the-microsoft-aspnetcore-metapackage/ )

Regarding:

However, typing "dotnet" into cmd I see "Version : 1.1.0". Shouldn't this say 1.1.1? My Programs and Features shows that the 1.1.1 runtime is installed.

I'm wondering the same thing and can't figure out where this is coming from, maybe it's just the version of the "dotnet" command line tool that is package with the SDK 1.0.1, but I can't prove it.