Requirements
Build environment
- The .NET SDK 6.0 must be installed.
- Metalama has been tested on Windows (x64), Ubuntu (x64), and MacOS (ARM).
IDEs
Metalama integrates with Roslyn, so it is theoretically compatible with any Roslyn-based IDE.
| IDE | Design-Time Correctness | Code Fixes | Additional UI Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio 2022 with Metalama Tools | Yes | Yes | Transformed code diff, info bar, syntax highlighting |
| Visual Studio 2022 without Metalama Tools | Yes | Yes | |
| Rider | Yes | Yes | |
| Visual Studio Code (C# Dev Kit) | Yes | Yes |
Note
While using Visual Studio, the utilization of Metalama Tools for Visual Studio is not mandatory but is highly recommended.
Target frameworks
Only SDK-style projects are supported.
Your projects can target any framework that supports .NET Standard 2.0, including:
| Framework | Versions |
|---|---|
| .NET and .NET Core | 2.0 or later |
| .NET Framework | 4.7.2 or later |
| Mono | 5.4 or later |
| Xamarin.iOS | 10.14 or later |
| Xamarin.Mac | 3.8 or later |
| Xamarin.Android | 8.0 or later |
| Universal Windows Platform | 10.0.16299 or later |
Synchronizing versions of Metalama, Visual Studio and .NET SDK
Since Metalama includes a fork of Roslyn, which comes with Visual Studio, you might question whether you need to synchronize the updates of Metalama and your IDEs.
Note
Even if you're not using Visual Studio, your IDE is still bound to a specific version of Roslyn. Roslyn is a part of the Visual Studio product family. Therefore, the support and versioning policies of your IDE are linked to those of Visual Studio.
To avoid versioning issues, consider the following suggestions:
- You can update your IDE or .NET SDK at any time without impacting Metalama projects, provided you do not start using new C# features in Metalama projects. In other words, merely updating Visual Studio should not cause any issues.
- Before you begin using new C# features in a Metalama project, ensure you update Metalama to a version that supports the new C# version. If you do not update, your code may fail to compile.
- Always use a version of Visual Studio that is under active mainstream support by Microsoft. When a version of Visual Studio falls out of support, update to a supported version within three months. If you use an unsupported version, you will only be able to use the language features of the last supported C# version below the version that you are using. If you do not use a supported version of Visual Studio, you may be stuck with an unsupported version of Metalama.
As per our policy, we do best effort to add support for new Roslyn versions no later than three weeks after their stable release and remove support for obsolete versions no sooner than three months after they fall out of mainstream support by Microsoft.
Warning
We're dedicated to keeping Metalama forward-compatible with future .NET SDK and Visual Studio releases. While we actively address compatibility issues, we can't guarantee that new updates to .NET or Visual Studio won't introduce breaking changes. For a smooth experience, keep your maintenance subscription current and update Metalama alongside your development environment.
For more information on the support policies of Visual Studio, see Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing and Visual Studio Channels and Release Rhythm.
The rationale behind these suggestions is as follows:
Note
The Metalama.Compiler package replaces the C# compiler included in Visual Studio or the .NET SDK. Therefore, your code will build against the version of Roslyn that Metalama was built for, regardless of the installed version of your IDE or the .NET SDK. To avoid incompatibilities after updates of the .NET SDK, the Metalama.Compiler package also includes a backup copy of all Roslyn analyzers normally included in the .NET SDK. In case of incompatibility, these backup copies will be used instead of the ones provided by your locally installed .NET SDK.