[BUG] Version downgrade in .NET 6 for Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll leads to broken Microsoft Installers

[czdietrich]

Describe the bug

From .NET 5 to .NET 6 the version schema of Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll has changed and is now lower than before. When an application is compiled as self-contained and bundled into an MSI file, upgrading from a previous (e.g. .NET 5) version will lead to an issue in the Microsoft Installer installation process.

To Reproduce

1. Create a new application (e.g. dotnet new console -f net5.0)
2. Create global.json (e.g. dotnet new globaljson --sdk-version 5.0.100)
3. Publish the app as self-contained application (e.g. dotnet publish -c Release --self-contained true -r win-x64)
4. Bundle the application as MSI file (e.g. use WiX toolset or skip this step for now)
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 for .NET 6.0 (-f net6.0 and --sdk-version 6.0.100)

In case you created MSI files:

Install the MSI from the first run and then upgrade the installation using the MSI from the second run.
Inspect the installation directory: Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll is missing.
If you repeat this but you do a fresh installation of the second run, Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll would be correctly placed in the installation folder.
In the end this means upgrading or fresh installing will lead to different results.

In case you did not build MSI files:

Inspect Publish-folder of both dotnet publish-runs. You will see that Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll has a higher file version number for .NET 5 build than for the .NET 6 build.

Further technical details

It is important that the file version of a DLL does not downgrade for a newer installer compared to the currently installed DLLs.
More info about this can be found here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47157021/downgraded-ms-dll-disappears-on-upgrade-windows-installer
https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/archive/blogs/astebner/why-windows-installer-removes-files-during-a-major-upgrade-if-they-go-backwards-in-version-numbers
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/both-files-have-a-version

Question

What is the expected and recommended way to handle this problem?

[dotnet-issue-labeler]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[marcpopMSFT]

@jaredpar Who can look into the versioning of Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll? It looks like it switched to be runtime versioned from some prior versioning mechanism.

[jaredpar]

@ericstj ?

[ericstj]

Let's move to dotnet/runtime. This appears to have regressed here: a505c46#diff-804ceb4a1df769aca14d1bd4043455cc1cce391376dcb02798cbf716cc6150eeL4

This should be fixed, including in servicing.

Tagging subscribers to this area: @safern
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Describe the bug

From .NET 5 to .NET 6 the version schema of Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll has changed and is now lower than before. When an application is compiled as self-contained and bundled into an MSI file, upgrading from a previous (e.g. .NET 5) version will lead to an issue in the Microsoft Installer installation process.

To Reproduce

1. Create a new application (e.g. dotnet new console -f net5.0)
2. Create global.json (e.g. dotnet new globaljson --sdk-version 5.0.100)
3. Publish the app as self-contained application (e.g. dotnet publish -c Release --self-contained true -r win-x64)
4. Bundle the application as MSI file (e.g. use WiX toolset or skip this step for now)
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 for .NET 6.0 (-f net6.0 and --sdk-version 6.0.100)

In case you created MSI files:

Install the MSI from the first run and then upgrade the installation using the MSI from the second run.
Inspect the installation directory: Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll is missing.
If you repeat this but you do a fresh installation of the second run, Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll would be correctly placed in the installation folder.
In the end this means upgrading or fresh installing will lead to different results.

In case you did not build MSI files:

Inspect Publish-folder of both dotnet publish-runs. You will see that Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core.dll has a higher file version number for .NET 5 build than for the .NET 6 build.

Further technical details

It is important that the file version of a DLL does not downgrade for a newer installer compared to the currently installed DLLs.
More info about this can be found here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47157021/downgraded-ms-dll-disappears-on-upgrade-windows-installer
https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/archive/blogs/astebner/why-windows-installer-removes-files-during-a-major-upgrade-if-they-go-backwards-in-version-numbers
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/both-files-have-a-version

Question

What is the expected and recommended way to handle this problem?

Author:	czdietrich
Assignees:	dsplaisted
Labels:	area-Infrastructure-libraries, area-Setup, untriaged
Milestone:	-

[ericstj]

We need to restore the MajorVersion property. That's no longer being set, causing the assembly to get default file version.