Microsoft has released the second release candidate (RC2) for .NET Core and ASP.NET Core. From a developer perspective, the big changes in RC2 include broader platform support, the introduction of the .NET Standard Library, and the inclusion of the RyuJIT JIT compiler that was first introduced in .NET Framework 4.6.1.
Prior to RC2, .NET Core only officially supported Windows, OS X, and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. With RC2, platform support has widened to include several more platforms:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2
- Centos 7.1
- Debian 8.2
- Linux Mint 17
- Windows Nano Server TP5
At the time of .NET Core 1.0 release, the project intends to include support for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
Joining the release candidates is .NET Core RC2 SDK Preview 1. Microsoft plans massive changes for this SDK prior to release of 1.0 but since it is used by developers and not on production systems they feel that this disruption will be manageable. This SDK is of particular importance to developers as it contains a copy of .NET Core and .NET Core Tools.
.NET Core provides a new set of commands which replace that of dnx (runtime that executed code) and dnu (.NET tooling) introduced in RC1. Microsoft has provided a quick guide on migrating to the new toolset for those familiar with the now deprecated commands of RC1.
As part of the RC2 release, the .NET Core Tools (contained in the .NET SDK) are now enabled to send telemetry data to Microsoft by default. While this can be disabled, it is important to know that various pieces of information (including command used, timestamp command was executed, etc) are being sent to Microsoft. Microsoft’s Lakshan Fernando states that the data will be shared with the public at-large when a meaningful amount is collected and can be made “accessible”.
Both .NET Core and ASP.NET Core are provided under a “Go Live” license which means Microsoft will provide support and that they can be used in a production environment. Both .NET and ASP.NET Core as and the Core Tools are available on GitHub.
