Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions package removed

No new versions of the Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions NuGet package will be produced.

Change description

Previously, new versions of the Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions library were produced alongside new versions of .NET Core. Going forward, no new functionality will be added to the library, and no new major versions will be released. However, existing versions of the library will continue to work and be serviced.

The Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions library overlaps with APIs that are already established in the System.* namespaces. Also, some Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions APIs weren't designed with the same level of scrutiny and long-term supportability as the rest of the System.* APIs. For example, Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions uses the Platform enumeration to describe the current operating system platform. This enumeration design was explicitly rejected when the RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform) API was designed, to allow for new platforms and future flexibility.

The scenarios enabled by the Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions library are now possible without it. Existing versions will continue to work, even in .NET 5 and later, and will be serviced along with previous versions of .NET Core. However, new functionality won't be added to the library. Instead, new functionality will be added to other libraries and APIs.

Version introduced

5.0

Recommended action

• You can continue to use older versions of the library if they meet your requirements.

• If the older versions don't meet your requirements, replace usages of the PlatformAbstractions APIs with the recommended replacements.

  PlatformAbstractions API	Recommended replacement
  ApplicationEnvironment.ApplicationBasePath	AppContext.BaseDirectory
  HashCodeCombiner	System.HashCode
  RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeIdentifier()	RuntimeInformation.RuntimeIdentifier
  RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystemPlatform	RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform)
  RuntimeEnvironment.RuntimeArchitecture	RuntimeInformation.ProcessArchitecture
  RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystem	RuntimeInformation.OSDescription
  RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystemVersion	RuntimeInformation.OSDescription and Environment.OSVersion

  Note

  Most use cases for RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystem and RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystemVersion are for display purposes, for example, displaying to a user, logging, and telemetry. It's not recommended to make run-time decisions based on an operating system (OS) version. Environment.OSVersion now returns the correct version for Windows and macOS operating systems. However, for most Unix distributions, what is considered to be the "OS version" is not as straightforward. For example, it could be the Linux kernel version, or it could be the distro version. For most Unix platforms, Environment.OSVersion and RuntimeInformation.OSDescription return the version that's returned by uname. To get the Linux distro name and version information, the recommended approach is to read the /etc/os-release file.

Affected APIs

• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.ApplicationEnvironment.ApplicationBasePath
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.HashCodeCombiner
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeIdentifier()
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystem
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystemPlatform
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.RuntimeEnvironment.OperatingSystemVersion
• Microsoft.DotNet.PlatformAbstractions.RuntimeEnvironment.RuntimeArchitecture