PowerShell: Creating Custom nuget.config
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PowerShell: Creating Custom nuget.config

Today, we are going to discuss a PowerShell script which we would be using to create a custom nuget.config file. Before we proceed to create a nuget.config file, it’s important to understand what this config file is and why is it used.

What is nuget.config?

A NuGet.Config file is a simple XML text file containing key/value pairs which are used to control the behaviour of NuGet CLI. The config file contains a top-level <configuration> node, which then contains the section elements mentioned below to control the behaviour.

  • config
  • bindingRedirects
  • packageRestore
  • solution
  • packageSources
  • packageSourceCredentials
  • apikeys
  • disabledPackageSources
  • activePackageSource
  • trustedSigners
  • fallbackPackageFolders
  • packageManagement

You may read more about the same at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/nuget-config-file

You may have a look at a sample nuget.config at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/nuget-config-file#example-config-file

Creating Custom Nuget.Config

Now coming back to the topic, we’ll be creating nuget.config using PowerShell. I would creating a nuget.config file that we have discussed before the blog: https://akhilsharma.work/protip-nuget-local-package-installation/

The plan we are going to follow to create our particular config file is:

  1. Set the path to current directory for creating the nuget.config
  2. Initialize the XML Writer
  3. Start the configuration node
  4. Start the packageSources node
  5. Provide the local package source
  6. Close the packageSources node
  7. Start the disabledPackageSources node
  8. Disable the package sources which we might impact your process.
  9. Close the disabledPackageSources node
  10. Close the configuration node

If the plan is followed properly, we would come up with the following script:

$currentDir = pwd
$Path = $currentDir.Path
$Path = $Path + "\Nuget.config"
# Set The Formatting
$xmlsettings = New-Object System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings
$xmlsettings.Indent = $true
$xmlsettings.IndentChars = "    "
# Set the File Name Create The Document
$XmlWriter = [System.XML.XmlWriter]::Create($Path, $xmlsettings)
# Write the XML Decleration and set the XSL
$xmlWriter.WriteStartDocument()
# Start the Root Element
$xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("configuration") # <-- Start <configuration>
$xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("packageSources") # <-- Start <packageSources>
# add a node with attributes and content:
$XmlWriter.WriteStartElement('add')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('key', 'LocalSource')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('value', 'D:\this-is-some-optional-directory\some-path')
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
$xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("disabledPackageSources") # <-- Start <packageSources>
# add a node with attributes and content:
# add a node with attributes and content:
$XmlWriter.WriteStartElement('add')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('key', 'nuget.org')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('value', 'true')
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
# add a node with attributes and content:
$XmlWriter.WriteStartElement('add')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('key', 'Microsoft Visual Studio Offline Packages')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('value', 'true')
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement() # <-- End <packageSources>
$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement() # <-- End <configuration> 
$xmlWriter.WriteEndDocument()
$xmlWriter.Flush()
$xmlWriter.Close()

You may access the complete script at: https://github.com/akhilvatts/NuGet-Cli-Utility-Scripts/blob/main/Create-Custom-NuGetConfig-PowerShell/custom-nuget-config.ps1

The output of this script would be as below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
	<packageSources>
			<add key="LocalSource" value="D:\this-is-some-optional-directory\some-path" />
	</packageSources>
	<disabledPackageSources>
    <!-- Disable any package sources here -->
		<add key="nuget.org" value="true" />
		<add key="Microsoft Visual Studio Offline Packages" value="true" />
	</disabledPackageSources>
</configuration>

I hope this blog helped!
Cheers!