[ubuntu-mono] [Bug 1618428] Re: asp.net templates are not visible or can't be installed in monodevelop in Ubuntu 16.04

[Peder Chr. Nørgaard]

This is a "me, too" comment.  With a few more pointers and opinions.

The problem is a not-so-minor regression for the Ubuntu Xenial
distribution - it is very close to be a showstopper for my company for
upgrading from Trusty to Xenial.  Monodevelop simply doesn't work with
asp.net in Xenial.  I would heavily recommend that the importance of
this regression be increased.  I would also like to assist in its
solution, but whereas I know more that a little bit about building and
maintaing debian packages, the complexity of the monodevelop package is
a quite daunting ...

I can add that even though we only use LTS versions of Ubuntu for
production we do try out the non-LTS versions - and this regression is
between 15.10 Wily and 16.04 Xenial - monodevelop worked just fine with
asp.net in Wily.

The problem is dead simple to reproduce, just take a Trusty or Wily
monodevelop, create a new Web application solution+project - the one
with a single button - build and run.  Works fine, then move it to a
Xenial monodevelop, fails.

You can get a whole load of useful information by simply googl'ing the
error message string "error: The ASP.NET add-in is not installed.".
Many different people, including some at Xamarin has observed the
problem and commented on it.

Essentially, the consensus seems to be that the Debian/Ubuntu release of
monodevelop 5.10.0.871-2 are missing some elements.   One widely
recommended solution seems to be to download the "debianized" version of
monodevelop 5.10.0.871 from http://download.mono-project.com - its
version is 5.10.0.871-0xamarin2.  Installing that certainly solved the
immediate problem for me - but I really prefer to work with a single,
supposedly consistent, distribution.

Problem is that the -0xamarin2 is not that well integrated with Ubuntu Xenial - it seems more to  be a kind of "generic relatively modern Debian/Ubuntu packaging".  For a starter, the
sources to the -0xamarin2 simply fails build on a vanilla Ubuntu Xenial.  Second, there are problems with the nunit integration.

I have spent some time studying the difference between the Ubuntu (-2)
and the Xamarin (-0xamarian2) sources.  Fortunately, both are using the
same .orig.tar (which they should, of course, but it is nice to
experience that packagers actually follow the conventions!).

Well, the differences are pretty big - a unified diff is about 3000
lines, and that is excluding the "Only in monodevelop-this-and-that"
diffs.  One major difference is that the ubuntu version seems to
consistently go for targetframework 4.5 in the .csproj files, whereas
the xamarin version uses many different framework versions.   I
speculate that in pushing the Ubuntu packaging to pure 4.5, it may have
been necessary to cut a few corners, and one of those be ASP.NET.

Certainly one difference between the two packagings is in the file
.pc/applied_patches where the Ubuntu has a new patch called
"dont_bundle_aspnet_assemblies.patch" ... One of the things I intend to
try out is of course to remove this patch and try a rebuild - I don't
hold that much hope, however, the patch is probably there for a reason.

I (and my company) really need this problem solved eventually.  It is no
big hurry - it is not that Ubuntu Trusty has stopped working :-) - but
sooner or later, this regression will be a problem.  I would like to
assist, within my limited competence - certainly I will continue to
report here if I figure out something of relevance.

-- 
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1618428

Title:
  asp.net templates are not visible or can't be installed in monodevelop
  in Ubuntu 16.04

Status in monodevelop package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I've installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS(Xenial),
  monocomplete(4.2.1.102+dfsg2-7Ubuntu4) and monodevelop(5.10.0.872-2).
  But it doesn't have project template of asp.net projects. In fact the
  entire "Add New Project" screen looks entirely different from what is
  shown on official page("http://www.monodevelop.com/documentation
  /creating-aspnet-projects/")

  I found a solution at "http://askubuntu.com/questions/770299
  /monodevelop-on-xubuntu-missing-asp-net". But it's not allowing me to
  install 5.10.0.871. I don't want to prefer to go for old version or an
  alpha version.

  Even as mentioned in mono-documentation("http://www.mono-
  project.com/docs/getting-started/install/linux/#debian-ubuntu-and-
  derivatives"), I've also installed "mono-xsp4(4.2.-2build1)".

  Is there any plan to fix this issue from Ubuntu side? or is there any
  better solution available?

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