NetBeauty 2

What is it?

NetBeauty moves a .NET Framework/.NET Core app runtime components and dependencies into a sub-directory and make it beauty.

After Beauty

EVEN LESS!

see --hiddens option

Before Beauty

What's New?

	NetBeauty 2	NetCoreBeauty
Supported Framework	.Net Framework .Net Core 3.0+	.Net Core 2.0+
Supported Deployment Model	Framework-dependent deployment (FDD) Self-contained deployment (SCD) Framework-dependent executables (FDE)	Self-contained deployment (SCD)
Supported System	All	win-x64 win-x86 win-arm64(.NET 6+) linux-x64 linux-arm linux-arm64 osx-x64 osx-arm64(.NET 6+)
Need Patched HostFXR	No Yes(if use patch)	Yes
Minimum Structure	~20 Files ~8 Files(if use patch)	~8 Files
How It Works	STARTUP_HOOKS AssemblyLoadContext.Resolving AssemblyLoadContext.ResolvingUnmanagedDll + patched libhostfxr(if use patch) additionalProbingPaths(if use patch)	patched libhostfxr additionalProbingPaths
Shared Runtime	Yes	Possible If Using patched libhostfxr Alone

The patch is back!

One of the main goals of NetBeauty2 is trying to use a customize loader to replace the patch, but in fact, the loader need to use lots of Types and APIs like Dictionary<TKey, TValue> List<T> Path.GetFullPath File.Exists NativeLibrary RuntimeInformation etc. this causes lots of assembly references and the worst thing is that those files can not be moved, otherwise CoreCLR will failed to initialize and invoke the loader. More complex logic, more files. So i have to make it back.

Now they work excellently together!

the loader lets us support FDD/FDE apps.
the patch reduces the file count as possible(SCD app only).

How to use?

Add Nuget reference to your .NET Core project.

dotnet add package nulastudio.NetBeauty

Your *.csproj should be like:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <BeautySharedRuntimeMode>False</BeautySharedRuntimeMode>
    <!-- beauty into sub-directory, default is libs, quote with "" if contains space  -->
    <BeautyLibsDir Condition="$(BeautySharedRuntimeMode) == 'True'">../libraries</BeautyLibsDir>
    <BeautyLibsDir Condition="$(BeautySharedRuntimeMode) != 'True'">./libraries</BeautyLibsDir>
    <!-- dlls that you don't want to be moved or can not be moved -->
    <!-- <BeautyExcludes>dll1.dll;lib*;...</BeautyExcludes> -->
    <!-- dlls that end users never needed, so hide them -->
    <!-- <BeautyHiddens>hostfxr;hostpolicy;*.deps.json;*.runtimeconfig*.json</BeautyHiddens> -->
    <!-- set to True if you want to disable -->
    <DisableBeauty>False</DisableBeauty>
    <!-- set to False if you want to beauty on build -->
    <BeautyOnPublishOnly>False</BeautyOnPublishOnly>
    <!-- DO NOT TOUCH THIS OPTION -->
    <BeautyNoRuntimeInfo>False</BeautyNoRuntimeInfo>
    <!-- valid values: auto|with|without -->
    <BeautyNBLoaderVerPolicy>auto</BeautyNBLoaderVerPolicy>
    <!-- set to True if you want to allow 3rd debuggers(like dnSpy) debugs the app -->
    <BeautyEnableDebugging>False</BeautyEnableDebugging>
    <!-- the patch can reduce the file count -->
    <!-- set to False if you want to disable -->
    <!-- SCD Mode Feature Only -->
    <BeautyUsePatch>True</BeautyUsePatch>
    <!-- App Entry Dll = BeautyDir + BeautyAppHostDir + BeautyAppHostEntry -->
    <!-- see https://github.com/nulastudio/NetBeauty2#customize-apphost for more details -->
    <!-- relative path based on AppHostDir -->
    <!-- .NET Core Non Single-File Only -->
    <!-- <BeautyAppHostEntry>bin/MyApp.dll</BeautyAppHostEntry> -->
    <!-- relative path based on BeautyDir -->
    <!-- .NET Core Non Single-File Only -->
    <!-- <BeautyAppHostDir>..</BeautyAppHostDir> -->
    <!-- <BeautyAfterTasks></BeautyAfterTasks> -->
    <!-- valid values: Error|Detail|Info -->
    <BeautyLogLevel>Info</BeautyLogLevel>
    <!-- set to a repo mirror if you have troble in connecting github -->
    <!-- <BeautyGitCDN>https://gitee.com/liesauer/HostFXRPatcher</BeautyGitCDN> -->
    <!-- <BeautyGitTree>master</BeautyGitTree> -->
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="nulastudio.NetBeauty" Version="2.1.4.6" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

When you run dotnet build or dotnet publish, everything will be done automatically.

Use the binary application if your project has already been published.

Usage:
nbeauty2 [--loglevel=(Error|Detail|Info)] [--srmode] [--enabledebug] [--usepatch] [--hiddens=hiddenFiles] [--noruntimeinfo] [--roll-forward=<rollForward>] [--nbloaderverpolicy=(auto|with|without)] [--apphostentry=<appHostEntry>] [--apphostdir=<appHostDir>] <beautyDir> [<libsDir> [<excludes>]]

for example

ncbeauty2 --usepatch --loglevel Detail --hiddens "hostfxr;hostpolicy;*.deps.json;*.runtimeconfig*.json" /path/to/publishDir libraries "dll1.dll;lib*;..."

--hiddens option just hiding the files, not move them, and only works under Windows!

Install as a .NETCore Global Tool

dotnet tool install --global nulastudio.nbeauty

then use it just like normal binary distribution.

Shared Runtime Structure

├── libraries                   - shared runtime dlls(customizable name)
│   ├── locales                 - satellite assemblies
│   │   ├── en
│   │   │   └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │       ├── MD5_1       - allows multiple runtimes between apps.
│   │   │       │   └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │       └── MD5_2
│   │   │           └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │
│   │   ├── zh-Hans
│   │   │   └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │       ├── MD5_1
│   │   │       │   └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │       └── MD5_2
│   │   │           └── *.resources.dll
│   │   │
│   │   └── ...                 - others languages
│   │
│   ├── *.dll                   - shared managed assemblies
│   │   ├── MD5_1
│   │   │   └── *.dll
│   │   └── MD5_2
│   │       └── *.dll
│   │
│   └── srm_native              - native dlls(can't be shared, each app has a full
│       ├── APPID_1               copy of their own native dlls)
│       │   └── *.dll
│       └── APPID_2
│           └── *.dll
│
│
├── app1                        - the app1 main/base folder
│   ├── hostfxr.dll;...         - dlls that can't be moved.
│   ├── nbloader.dll            - NBLoader(will be moved if use patch)
│   ├── app1.deps.json
│   ├── app1.dll
│   ├── app1.exe
│   ├── app1.runtimeconfig.json
│   └── ...
│
│
└── app2                        - the app2 main/base folder
    ├── hostfxr.dll;...
    ├── nbloader.dll
    ├── app2.deps.json
    ├── app2.dll
    ├── app2.exe
    ├── app2.runtimeconfig.json
    └── ...

Customize AppHost

Inspired by AppHostPatcher.

More user-friendly folder structure for software suite by patching the imprinted entry path of AppHost, Demo.

├── MyApp                       - the app1 main/base folder
│   ├── libs                    - dependencies.
│   ├── hostfxr.dll;...         - dlls that can't be moved.
│   ├── nbloader.dll            - NBLoader(will be moved if use patch)
│   ├── MyApp.deps.json
│   ├── MyApp.dll
│   ├── MyApp.runtimeconfig.json
│   └── ...
│
└── MyApp.exe                   - AppHost

Shared Runtime + Customized AppHost

├── libraries                   - shared runtime dlls(customizable name)
│
├── app1                        - the app1 main/base folder
│   ├── hostfxr.dll;...         - dlls that can't be moved.
│   ├── app1.deps.json
│   ├── app1.dll
│   ├── app1.runtimeconfig.json
│   └── ...
│
├── app2                        - the app2 main/base folder
│   ├── hostfxr.dll;...
│   ├── app2.deps.json
│   ├── app2.dll
│   ├── app2.runtimeconfig.json
│   └── ...
│
├── app1.exe
└── app2.exe