.NET Core Application Types
We can create two types of applications in .NET Core.
- Portable Application
- Self-contained application
Portable Application
Portable applications are applications which expect .NET Core runtime on the deployment machines. It cannot be run on a machine which does not have .NET Core runtime installed.
Self-contained Application
Self-contained applications are applications which include .NET Core runtime when we publish it. It can run on a machine which does not have .NET Core runtime installed.
Configure Application Type
We can configure ASP.NET Core application as portable or self-contained application using type
property of Microsoft.NETCore.App
dependency in project.json. The "type":"platform" indicates that this application expects .NET Core on the machine. This makes it a portable application.
For the self-contained application, remove type-platform from the dependency. This makes it a self-contained application which means .NET Core will be included when you build and publish an application.