Isolated .NET SDK Exact SDKs without changing system .NET

Isolated .NET SDK v0.1.0

Initial release of Isolated .NET SDK, a small cross-platform tool for installing and managing exact .NET SDK versions without changing the normal system-wide .NET installation.

Highlights

  • Install exact .NET SDK versions under ~/dotnet-sdks without adding them to PATH.
  • PowerShell support for Windows and Bash support for Linux and macOS.
  • Interactive selection of supported, development, and end-of-life .NET channels using Microsoft’s published release metadata.
  • Install, list, and remove isolated SDKs interactively or through automation.
  • Detect SDK versions already installed through the normal dotnet host or as isolated installations.
  • Use -Yes or --yes for unattended automation where confirmation would otherwise be required.
  • Shut down .NET build servers before removing an isolated SDK.
  • Preserve the exact script when bootstrapping from a checked-out or tagged file, while the one-line quick-start commands continue to refresh from main.
  • Return nonzero exit codes for operational failures.
  • MIT licensed.

This project grew out of the need to evaluate preview, release-candidate, and newer .NET SDKs without altering the normal development environment.

Release validation

The release validation workflow performs Bash syntax and smoke checks on Linux and macOS and PowerShell syntax and smoke checks on Windows. It also verifies invalid-version failure behavior and tagged/file-based bootstrap reproducibility.

Bootstrap behavior

The one-line quick-start commands intentionally refresh the installed helper from main.

When a script is executed directly from a repository checkout or tagged source, the tool now installs that exact script under ~/dotnet-sdks before re-executing it. This keeps tagged releases reproducible without changing the convenient refresh-from-main quick-start experience.