DotnetManager

DotnetManager is a native command-line tool for discovering and installing .NET SDKs and runtimes from Microsoft's official release metadata. It selects the correct artifact for the current platform, verifies its SHA-512 hash, and configures the installed dotnet executable for the current user.

The project is under active development. Browsing, listing, and installation are implemented; update and remove are currently reserved for future releases.

Quick install

Linux and macOS on x64 and ARM64 are supported. The installer does not need sudo or an existing .NET installation:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axies20/DotnetManager/master/install.sh | sh

The utility is stored in ~/.dotnet-manager, with a command symlink at ~/.local/bin/dnm. If ~/.local/bin is not already in PATH, the installer adds a clearly marked block to the active Bash, Zsh, or Fish configuration file. Restart the shell after the first installation if the command is not found immediately.

Check the installation:

dnm --help

What it can do

• Show supported .NET channels and the releases available in a channel.
• Discover SDKs, runtimes, and hosts already installed on the machine.
• Install an exact .NET release or select the latest eligible release.
• Install the SDK, .NET runtime, ASP.NET Core runtime, or both runtimes.
• Select an exact runtime identifier (RID), with no silent fallback to another platform.
• Verify the DotnetManager release archive with SHA-256 and every downloaded .NET artifact with the SHA-512 hash from Microsoft metadata.

Commands

Browse available releases

Show all available .NET channels:

dnm available

Show releases in one channel:

dnm available 10.0

List installed .NET components

Show every discovered SDK, runtime, and host:

dnm list

Limit the output to one or more component types:

dnm list --sdk
dnm list --runtime
dnm list --host

Install an exact release

With no component option, DotnetManager installs the SDK associated with the selected .NET release:

dnm install 10.0.12

Install runtimes instead:

dnm install 10.0.12 --runtime
dnm install 10.0.12 --aspnet
dnm install 10.0.12 --runtime --aspnet

An exact version refers to the .NET release version, not directly to an SDK version. For example, a release such as 10.0.12 may contain an SDK such as 10.0.401.

Install the latest release

By default, latest selects a security release and installs its SDK:

dnm install latest

Filter by release type or support phase:

dnm install latest --release-type Lts
dnm install latest --release-type Sts
dnm install latest --support-phase Active

Allow non-security releases when no security-only selection is required:

dnm install latest --include-non-security

All installation forms accept an explicit RID:

dnm install latest --rid linux-arm64

Use dnm install latest --help to see the values accepted by the current version.

How installation works

Microsoft release metadata
          │
          ▼
 channel and release selection
          │
          ▼
 exact component + RID artifact
          │
          ▼
 download → SHA-512 verification → extraction → PATH configuration

The downloaded .NET SDK/runtime is separate from the DotnetManager utility itself:

Purpose	Non-root location	Root location
DotnetManager utility	~/.dotnet-manager	same; the bootstrap installer is user-scoped
Managed .NET installation	~/.dotnet	/usr/local/share/dotnet
dotnet command entry point	shell configuration	/usr/local/bin/dotnet

Running DotnetManager without root privileges is recommended. For a user installation it configures DOTNET_ROOT and PATH in the detected shell configuration. Root installation is intended for an explicitly system-wide .NET installation.

Uninstall DotnetManager

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axies20/DotnetManager/master/uninstall.sh | sh

The uninstall script removes only the managed ~/.dotnet-manager directory, its ~/.local/bin/dnm symlink, and the marked PATH block created by the bootstrap installer. It does not remove SDKs or runtimes installed by DotnetManager.

Install a specific DotnetManager release

Set an explicit release archive URL when reproducibility matters:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axies20/DotnetManager/master/install.sh | \
  DOTNET_MANAGER_DOWNLOAD_URL=https://github.com/axies20/DotnetManager/releases/download/v0.1.0/dotnet-manager-linux-x64.tar.gz sh

Build from source

The repository targets .NET 10 and publishes as a Native AOT executable:

git clone https://github.com/axies20/DotnetManager.git
cd DotnetManager
dotnet build
dotnet run --project DotnetManager -- --help

Create a native build for the current machine:

dotnet publish DotnetManager/DotnetManager.csproj \
  --configuration Release \
  --runtime linux-x64 \
  --self-contained true

Tests

Run the isolated unit test suite:

dotnet test Tests/DotnetManager.UnitTests

The full installation scenario has its own opt-in xUnit project. It creates a fresh Podman container, copies the repository into it, installs an SDK entirely inside the container, verifies the resulting dotnet executable, and removes the container in finally:

DOTNET_MANAGER_RUN_CONTAINER_TESTS=1 \
  dotnet test Tests/DotnetManager.IntegrationTests

Without DOTNET_MANAGER_RUN_CONTAINER_TESTS=1, this test is reported as skipped. It never writes to the host's ~/.dotnet, shell configuration, or system .NET directories.

Release process

Pushing a tag whose name starts with v builds native archives for all supported platforms and attaches them to a GitHub release:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

After the first release is published, the quick-install command automatically downloads its matching platform archive.