openSUSE - upgrade using 'zypper up' command upgrades 3.1 host to 6.0 and removes 'dotnet' command

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

Dotnet-host package is built with version-agnostic package name, which causes an issue when upgrading, for instance 3.1 host to latest. 6.0 host will be installed and 'dotnet' command will be missing.

rpm -q --queryformat "name: %{NAME}, version: %{VERSION}" https://packages.microsoft.com/sles/15/prod/dotnet-host-6.0.0-x64.rpm
warning: https://packages.microsoft.com/sles/15/prod/dotnet-host-6.0.0-x64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID be1229cf: NOKEY
name: dotnet-host, version: 6.0.0

Dotnet-host package is intentionally built as version-agnostic, see relevant infra:

runtime/src/installer/pkg/sfx/installers/dotnet-host.proj

Line 15 in 4e2d3a6

<VersionInstallerName>false</VersionInstallerName>

https://github.com/dotnet/arcade/blob/97463777ee9a8445d4a4c5911ede0f0cd71fa8aa/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Build.Tasks.Installers/build/installer.singlerid.targets#L99

Upgrading to latest host version should not remove 'dotnet' command.

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

I've confirmed this issue on openSUSE and other RPM-based distros (i.e. CentOS). It is a regression.

In .NET 3.1 and 5.0 we were creating a dotnet symlink in /usr/bin:

runtime/src/installer/pkg/packaging/rpm/package.targets

Line 85 in 97f0e8a

<Exec Command="ln -sf &quot;/$(UsrShareDotnetPath)dotnet&quot; &quot;$(rpmLayoutUsrBinDir)dotnet&quot;" />

In 6.0 after infra refactoring we had a bug where we weren't setting any symlinks. Later we fixed it to create symlink in an after-install.sh script:

runtime/src/installer/pkg/sfx/installers/rpm_scripts/host/after_install.sh

Line 6 in e9036b0

ln -s /usr/share/dotnet/dotnet /usr/local/bin/dotnet

However, new symlink is created in /usr/local/bin. To get dotnet command working, one needs to open a new shell window:

It's unclear why we ended up with /usr/local/bin instead of /usr/bin.

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

The workaround is to create a symlink using the following command:

ln -sf /usr/share/dotnet/dotnet /usr/bin/dotnet

[am11]

It's unclear why we ended up with /usr/local/bin instead of /usr/bin.

The installer can cleanup the existing symlinks in both known locations and create the new one.

[dcermak]

Dotnet-host package is intentionally built as version-agnostic, see relevant infra:

Why is that the case? From an outsider's PoV it doesn't make a lot of sense to have everything versioned except for the main package which will just freely upgrade to the latest .Net version.

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

The original issue was fixed in January.