In a C# or VB.NET project, should we include the PACKAGE folder (NuGet package folder that is created in the root of my project that contains the nupkg files and other content) to our source control repository (Git for instance)?
Version Control – Should the NuGet PACKAGE Folder Be Included
cgitvb.netversion control
Related Solutions
Don't ask him. Don't tell him. Show him.
Install svn, or git, or whatever you like on some extra machine. Practice using it yourself until you feel comfortable not just using it, but explaining it. If you're going to make him comfortable with your new system, you'll need to be more than comfortable with it yourself. You'll need to be able to help him recover easily when he screws up a merge or checks something into the wrong place.
When you're ready, show him exactly what you're talking about. Show him that it doesn't "make a mess" of anything. Point out that it doesn't just let you retrieve any previous version of your code with ease, it also makes it possible to know exactly what changed between any two versions.
Point out that if anything ever happens to the server (serious bug, virus, hacker, disk crash...) you'll both look like heros if you can instantly reconstruct the necessary version. Point out, too, that you'll look twice as good if you're able to produce any version on demand. Search your old e-mail and compile a list of problems you've had over the past year that you could have avoided with version control.
Give him a cheat sheet that will make it easy for him to use your version control system.
Finally, suggest some options but leave the decision to him. Should you set up your own server, or use one of the many hosted services? Should you use svn, git, or something else? Should you migrate all seven projects to the system, or try it with one or two at first?
If nuget is not available, the cleanest way may be to provide an export script which pulls the source code of the needed library from their external repository (of the library vendor) into your working directory. This will work even if the SCC system of the external libs is different from Git (as long as it has a command-line interface). EDIT: this will work also when the source code is not available in an SCC system at all, just as ftp or http download, for example.
You can integrate that script into your build process, of course. When using Visual Studio, as you mentioned it, you can write either a classic Makefile (using NMake), or use MSBuild to call that script when the external lib is not in your working dir. Perhaps the most simple approach is to add that script to a prebuild event, the details depend much on how the rest of your build process is organized.
Best Answer
A lot of time has passed, and NuGet has changed, so here's a new answer.
NuGet no longer creates a packages folder inside your source structure. Instead there is one in your user directory (
%USERPROFILE%\.nuget\packageson Windows, to be specific) where it puts all packages it downloads, and projects just reference these.So the simple answer these days is no, you shouldn't. If you are worried about packages you need disappearing, you should create a local NuGet mirror that you back up separately.