NuGet.Localization package includes unncessary resource assemblies

[pranavkm]

NuGet Product(s) Affected

dotnet.exe

Current Behavior

The NuGet.Localization assembly is extracted as-is by the .NET SDK as part of creating it's layout. It looks like the package contains resources for the NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.dll but not the primary dll itself. Here's what I get if I list the contents of the .NET 6 SDK:

> ls -r d:\temp\dotnet6\sdk *NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts*.dll | Select FullName

FullName
--------
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\cs\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\de\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\es\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\fr\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\it\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\ja\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\ko\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\pl\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\pt-BR\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\ru\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\tr\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\zh-Hans\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll
D:\temp\dotnet6\sdk\6.0.100\zh-Hant\NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts.resources.dll

Desired Behavior

I'm not certain, but it looked like the localization package is only consumed by the SDK. In which case the assembly could be dropped from the package, helping reduce the total size of the installer. Alternatively, we'd have consider doing something in the SDK to trim the assembly as part of consuming this package.

Additional Context

No response

[AraHaan]

hmm perhaps there should be a node like: <ExcludeResourceLanguages></ExcludeResourceLanguages> added to <PackageReference> that perhaps might solve this issue? I guess an msbuild update for it could help with this one instead of changing the NuGet.Localization package for everyone.

[heng-liu]

Hi @dominoFire , could you help take a look? Thanks!

[dominoFire]

We can consider removing NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts resource assemblies from NuGet.Localization package, and those without string resrouces. Table below shows NuGet.Localization assembly contents.

NuGet.PackageManagement is designed to work with VS, whose localization ships inside VS. That requires further analysis.

Resource DLL	Is VS specific?	Contains String Resources?
Microsoft.Build.NuGetSdkResolver	No	Yes
NuGet.Build.Tasks.Console	No	No
NuGet.Build.Tasks	No	Yes
NuGet.CommandLine.XPlat	No	Yes
NuGet.Commands	No	Yes
NuGet.Common	No	Yes
NuGet.Configuration	No	Yes
NuGet.Credentials	No	Yes
NuGet.DependencyResolver.Core	No	Yes
NuGet.Frameworks	No	Yes
NuGet.LibraryModel	No	Yes
NuGet.Localization	No	No
NuGet.PackageManagement	Yes	Yes
NuGet.Packaging.Core	No	No
NuGet.Packaging	No	Yes
NuGet.ProjectModel	No	Yes
NuGet.Protocol	No	Yes
NuGet.Resolver	No	Yes
NuGet.Versioning	No	Yes
NuGet.VisualStudio.Contracts	Yes	No

@pranavkm Please tell us which assembly resources are needed in dotnet SDK. Thanks!

[AraHaan]

I think a much better option is to be able to tell the .NET SDK to not include to resource assemblies by adding support to msbuild for:

<ExcludeResourceAssemblies>true</ExcludeResourceAssemblies>

on project/package references.

[nkolev92]

@pranavkm Please tell us which assembly resources are needed in dotnet SDK. Thanks!

@dominoFire

We know which assembly resources are needed in the .NET SDK, it's the ones that we insert.

We can clean up the authoring of the NuGet.Localization package, https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client/blob/a8b6b1fb3a1bccd207a83612cd0f5e1f4ff1d0b8/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.Localization/NuGet.Localization.nuspec#L21.

Alternatively, the installer could probably exclude certain files if necessary?
I know there is special authoring for packages such as the NuGet.Build.Tasks.Pack for example.

[zivkan]

@nkolev92 do you have historical context for why NuGet doesn't ship translations in their respective packages, rather than this NuGet.Localization package? Is package size the only concern? My gut feeling is that this package shouldn't even exist.

[nkolev92]

I don't have really have all the context.

Package size was probably a pretty big concern.

Localized packages are not the smoothest experience.
You can put them in a package, but those assemblies getting consumed the right way is not easy in all scenarios.

I think there's a do customers want it type of consideration as well.

[zivkan]

From @dominoFire's table, NuGet.Localization.resources.dll can be removed, since there is no assembly/code (it's not used either by the .NET SDK or by VS)

[AraHaan]

Hmm I wonder why there cant be a way to have all of the resources from all of the assemblies into a single central assembly.

Like NuGet.Resources (where only nuget's packages can see the code that loads the resources as they will all be "internal") that is then used by all of them, and makes everything a lot easier to have it as well. This would then ensure that the .NET SDK, and VS would not contain needless resource assemblies I think as well (Bonus points if trimming also would trim unused resources as well).