How to deprecate a NuGet package?
NuGet recently announced that it is adding support for package deprecation. This was a much needed feature. Here is the guide to deprecating packages on NuGet.
Steps to deprecate
Go to Manage Packages page in NuGet website.
Select your package and click the edit icon.
You will find a deprecation section like the one in the screenshot below
Nuget deprecation menu Select the version you want to deprecate. You can select all versions if you are deprecating the whole package.
Select a reason.
If this package is being deprecated in favour of another, provide information about the alternate package.
Save the package.
Client side warnings
Once you have deprecated a package, warning will be shown in the NuGet website. Visual Studio starting from 16.3 (Visual Studio 2019) will show a warning for deprecated packages and show the warning message and alternate packages info.
Undoing Deprecation of a package
Okay now if you have started to work on your old package again and you want to undo the deprecation process. Here is how you can do it.
- Go to the deprecation section of your package as mentioned in the steps above.
- Uncheck the check boxes under reasons for deprecating and save.
- Your package is no longer deprecated.
Note: Deprecated packages are still searchable in NuGet. You can unlist your packages if you do not want them to be visible.