Announcement: Unpublishing Extensions from Beta 2 to RC

Visual Studio Blog

UPDATE 2/8: I forgot to mention a change to the VSIX file format in the Release Candidate that might impact your extensions.  The valid <Edition> values (under <SupportedProducts>) have been updated to better reflect our SKU branding.  The only valid values for RC and RTM are: IntegratedShell, Pro, Premium, Ultimate, Express_All, VBExpress, VCSExpress, VWDExpress, VCExpress.  We have removed VST_All, Pro_All, VSTT, VSTD, and VSTDB from the list of supported values.  If your extension lists any of the removed values, you will need to update your VSIX manifest and reupload your extension.  If this is not done, your extension will not show up in the Extension Manager or the New Project Dialog since SKU-filtering is applied.  Also note, that you only need to include the lowest common denominator supported SKU.  For example, if your extension works in Pro, you only need to list “Pro” under the <Edition> element, as Premium and Ultimate are supersets of Pro and will pick up Pro-supported extensions.

 

When the public Release Candidate (RC) is released later this month, we will be unpublishing all Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 extensions that are hosted on the http://www.visualstudiogallery.com. We do this because we want to ensure that all extensions are tested and work on the latest release (RC) so that users aren’t treated to numerous errors either when installing or using the extension. This same process was used to convert Beta 1 to Beta 2 extensions. The extension author will have the responsibility of testing and republishing the extension.

FAQ

Q: Will my VS 2008 or VS 2005 extensions be unpublished?
A: No, this will only affect VS 2010 extensions.

Q: Will I need to rebuild my extension and then reupload?
A: Possibly. There have been a few breaking changes in the extensibility APIs from Beta 2 -> RC, so you’ll need to verify that your extension still behaves correctly. If bugs are found, this will require a rebuild. If everything works as expected, a rebuild is not necessary.

Q: How do I republish my extension?
A:

  1. Navigate to http://www.visualstudiogallery.com and sign in
  2. Click on “My Contributions” on the top navigation bar
  3. You’ll see the text “(Unpublished)” next to the title of any contributions that have been unpublished
  4. Simply click on the extension and select “Publish”

Q: Will I have to do this for every major VS release?
A: This will need to be done once more when VS 2010 RTM is released. We’re still examining how best to manage this from release to release (both for Service Packs and next versions). If this process is necessary to repeat, we will look to provide a tool or an automated way to move extensions over.

Q: Will my extension work in Beta 2?
A: After two weeks, we will be disabling online extension manager access for VS 2010 Beta 2. This is because extensions that have been ported to RC may not work on Beta 2 anymore.

Please let comments if you have any additional questions about this process.

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wespic Weston Hutchins – Program Manager, Visual Studio Shell Team
Short Bio: I started at Microsoft as an intern in 2005 and have been working in Visual Studio ever since.  I’m currently a PM on the VS Shell IDE team and work on the core IDE UI and services as well as the Extension Manager and http://www.visualstudiogallery.com integration. Prior to my current duties, I was the SKU manager for the Visual Studio Express products.

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