Does NuGet support global package installation like NPM and Composer? If so, how do I do that? Also, how do I reference globally installed packages in my Visual Studio projects?
1 Answers
So learning from @Lance's tips, I went ahead and checked %userprofile%\.nuget\packages folder, and indeed it contains all the packages that I have downloaded in the past. Unfortunately though, Visual Studio (I'm using Community 2019) does not allow you to install any of these packages into a new project. The Browse page in NuGet Package Manager UI displays online results only from nuget.org.
But then I found another clue. In Visual Studio Tools > Options > NuGet Package Manager > Package Sources, you can add custom sources. So I went ahead and added my cache folder as an alternate source.
Note that there is a separate "Machine-wide package sources" entry too that cannot be modified. I checked that folder and it contains mostly Microsoft's own packages (one exception that I found there was NewtonSoft.json). I have no idea how this folder is different from the nuget cache folder and how I can download a package to this folder.
So far so good. The Package Manager now shows all previously downloaded packages from cache when I select this source from the drop down (sources dropdown is in top-right corner). I can then select a package and install it from local source instead of downloading it from the Internet.
Hope this helps someone down the line.
Related