Investigate: 122 dependencies in Newtonsoft.Json 10.0.2 when adding to UWP app

[martinsuchan]

When adding previous version 9.0.1 to UWP app, it added only one required dll and that was all, working as expected.

Suddenly when I updated to v10.0.2, this package has transitive dependency on 122(!) other NuGet packages, that are part of the NETStandard.Library and Microsoft.CSharp. The full list of dependencies is at the bottom.

I don't really think Newtonsoft.Json should require this huge list of dependencies when targeting the UWP platform, specifically Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform 5.3.2.

122 dependencies in Newtonsoft.Json 10.0.2

Microsoft.CSharp 4.3.0
Microsoft.NETCore.Platforms 1.1.0
Microsoft.NETCore.Targets 1.1.0
Microsoft.Win32.Primitives 4.3.0
NETStandard.Library 1.6.1
runtime.debian.8-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.fedora.23-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.fedora.24-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.native.System.IO.Compression 4.3.0
runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.opensuse.13.2-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.opensuse.42.1-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.osx.10.10-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.rhel.7-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.ubuntu.14.04-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.ubuntu.16.04-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
runtime.ubuntu.16.10-x64.runtime.native.System.Security.Cryptography.OpenSsl 4.3.0
System.AppContext 4.3.0
System.Buffers 4.3.0
System.Collections 4.3.0
System.Collections.Concurrent 4.3.0
System.ComponentModel.Primitives 4.3.0
System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter 4.3.0
System.Console 4.3.0
System.Diagnostics.Contracts 4.3.0
System.Diagnostics.Debug 4.3.0
System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticSource 4.3.0
System.Diagnostics.Tools 4.3.0
System.Diagnostics.Tracing 4.3.0
System.Dynamic.Runtime 4.3.0
System.Globalization 4.3.0
System.Globalization.Calendars 4.3.0
System.IO 4.3.0
System.IO.Compression 4.3.0
System.IO.Compression.ZipFile 4.3.0
System.IO.FileSystem 4.3.0
System.IO.FileSystem.Primitives 4.3.0
System.Linq 4.3.0
System.Linq.Expressions 4.3.0
System.Net.Http 4.3.0
System.Net.Primitives 4.3.0
System.Net.Sockets 4.3.0
System.ObjectModel 4.3.0
System.Reflection 4.3.0
System.Reflection.Emit.ILGeneration 4.3.0
System.Reflection.Emit.Lightweight 4.3.0
System.Reflection.Extensions 4.3.0
System.Reflection.Primitives 4.3.0
System.Reflection.TypeExtensions 4.3.0
System.Resources.ResourceManager 4.3.0
System.Runtime 4.3.0
System.Runtime.Extensions 4.3.0
System.Runtime.Handles 4.3.0
System.Runtime.InteropServices 4.3.0
System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation 4.3.0
System.Runtime.Numerics 4.3.0
System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters 4.3.0
System.Runtime.Serialization.Primitives 4.3.0
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime 4.3.0
System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms 4.3.0
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng 4.3.0
System.Security.Cryptography.Encoding 4.3.0
System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives 4.3.0
System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates 4.3.0
System.Text.Encoding 4.3.0
System.Text.Encoding.Extensions 4.3.0
System.Text.RegularExpressions 4.3.0
System.Threading 4.3.0
System.Threading.Tasks 4.3.0
System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions 4.3.0
System.Threading.Timer 4.3.0
System.Xml.ReaderWriter 4.3.0
System.Xml.XDocument 4.3.0
System.Xml.XmlDocument 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Collections 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Diagnostics.Tools 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Diagnostics.Tracing 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Globalization 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Globalization.Calendars 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.IO 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Reflection 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Reflection.Extensions 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Reflection.Primitives 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Resources.ResourceManager 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Runtime 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Runtime.Handles 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Runtime.InteropServices 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Text.Encoding 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Text.Encoding.Extensions 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Threading.Tasks 4.3.0
runtime.any.System.Threading.Timer 4.3.0
runtime.win.Microsoft.Win32.Primitives 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.Console 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.Diagnostics.Debug 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.IO.FileSystem 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.Net.Primitives 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.Net.Sockets 4.3.0
runtime.win.System.Runtime.Extensions 4.3.0
runtime.win7.System.Private.Uri 4.3.0
runtime.win8-arm.runtime.native.System.IO.Compression 4.3.0
System.Net.NameResolution 4.3.0
System.Private.Uri 4.3.0
System.Threading.Overlapped 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Collections 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Diagnostics.Tools 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Diagnostics.Tracing 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Globalization 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Globalization.Calendars 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.IO 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Reflection 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Reflection.Extensions 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Reflection.Primitives 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Resources.ResourceManager 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Runtime 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Runtime.Handles 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Runtime.InteropServices 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Text.Encoding 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Text.Encoding.Extensions 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Threading.Tasks 4.3.0
runtime.aot.System.Threading.Timer 4.3.0
runtime.win7-x64.runtime.native.System.IO.Compression 4.3.0
runtime.win7-x86.runtime.native.System.IO.Compression 4.3.0

[JamesNK]

I believe it is because Json.NET is referencing .NET Core 1.1 libs (NETStandard.Library 1.6.1) and UWP is still 1.0. The 1.0 libs are being replaced with 1.1 libs from NuGet

Either use 9.0.1 until UWP moves to .NET Core 1.1 and those NuGet packages are bundled by default or just accept that there are a lot of NuGet packages. As soon as you reference another package that uses NETStandard.Library 1.6.1 then the same thing will happen.

I'm not a UWP expert. IMO you should raise this with MS if lots of NuGet packages concern you.

[martinsuchan]

I should maybe rephrase the issue to: Do not force .NET Core libs 1.1 in UWP projects
Edit, based on this blogpost:

Is the native builder included in this released?
Great question. .NET Native support isn’t yet included. That’s something that is likely to show up in 2017.

So it's possible that installing Newtonsoft.Json v10.0.2 can break the .NET Native compilation in UWP apps?

[JamesNK]

No idea. If it does then that is a bug for the UWP team.

[JamesNK]

Newtonsoft.Json supports .NET Standard 2 now. You should be able to use that with new versions of UWP without a lot of references.