## Install the required version of the .NET Core SDK
Go to https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/visual-studio-sdks and install the latest version of the .NET Core SDK compatible with Avalonia UI. Make sure to download the SDK (not just the "runtime") package. The version compatible is indicated within the [global.json](https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia/blob/master/global.json) file. Note that Avalonia UI does not always use the latest version and is hardcoded to use the last version known to be compatible (SDK releases may break the builds from time-to-time).
Go to https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/visual-studio-sdks and install the latest version of the .NET SDK compatible with Avalonia UI. Make sure to download the SDK (not just the "runtime") package. The version compatible is indicated within the [global.json](https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia/blob/master/global.json) file. Note that Avalonia UI does not always use the latest version and is hardcoded to use the last version known to be compatible (SDK releases may break the builds from time-to-time).
### Installing necessary .NET Workloads
.NET SDK requires developers to install workloads for each platform they are targeting.
Since Avalonia targets pretty much every supported .NET platform, you need to install these workloads as well.
@ -47,14 +51,6 @@ Build and run `ControlCatalog.NetCore` project to see the sample application.
### Visual Studio Troubleshooting
* **Error CS0006: Avalonia.DesktopRuntime.dll could not be found**
It is common for the first build to fail with the errors below (also discussed in [#4257](https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia/issues/4257)).
```
>CSC : error CS0006: Metadata file 'C:\...\Avalonia\src\Avalonia.DesktopRuntime\bin\Debug\netcoreapp2.0\Avalonia.DesktopRuntime.dll' could not be found
>CSC : error CS0006: Metadata file 'C:\...\Avalonia\packages\Avalonia\bin\Debug\netcoreapp2.0\Avalonia.dll' could not be found
```
To correct this, right click on the `Avalonia.DesktopRuntime` project then press `Build` to build the project manually. Afterwards the solution should build normally and the ControlCatalog can be run.
* **Error MSB4062 GenerateAvaloniaResourcesTask**
Same as previous one, you need to manually build `Avalonia.Build.Tasks` project at least once.
@ -79,11 +75,7 @@ Or if you need to create nuget packages as well (it will compile and run tests a
It's *not* possible to build the *whole* project on Linux/macOS. You can only build the subset targeting .NET Standard and .NET Core (which is, however, sufficient to get UI working on Linux/macOS). If you want to something that involves changing platform-specific APIs you'll need a Windows machine.
MonoDevelop, Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio for Mac aren't capable of properly opening our solution. You can use Rider (at least 2017.2 EAP) or VSCode instead. They will fail to load most of platform specific projects, but you don't need them to run on .NET Core.
## Install the latest version of the .NET Core SDK
Go to https://www.microsoft.com/net/core and follow the instructions for your OS. Make sure to download the SDK (not just the "runtime") package.
MonoDevelop, Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio for Mac aren't capable of properly opening our solution. You can use Rider (at least 2017.2 EAP) or VS Code instead. They will fail to load most of platform specific projects, but you don't need them to run on .NET Core.
## Additional requirements for macOS
@ -105,10 +97,14 @@ On macOS it is necessary to build and manually install the respective native lib
./build.sh CompileNative
```
## Build and Run Avalonia
# Building Avalonia into a local NuGet cache
It is possible to build Avalonia locally and generate NuGet packages that can be used locally to test local changes.