Improve pruning documentation

[nkolev92]

Fixes NuGet/Home#14410
Fixes NuGet/Home#14330
Fixes NuGet/Home#14254

Original spec for what was documented already: https://github.com/NuGet/Home/blob/dev/accepted/2024/prune-package-reference.md, https://github.com/NuGet/Home/blob/dev/accepted/2025/prune-package-reference-rollout.md was also part of the original documentation.

https://github.com/NuGet/Home/blob/dev/accepted/2025/PrunePackageReference-with-direct-PackageReference.md is the majority of the updates.

• Document the pruning behavior for direct PackageReference.
• Clarify that NU1510 & NU1511 are only raised when the project targets .NET 10.
• Add more examples to the NU1510 page to improve clarity for when the warning is being raised.

[learn-build-service-prod]

Learn Build status updates of commit 8dbbe05:

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File	Status	Preview URL	Details
docs/consume-packages/Package-References-in-Project-Files.md	✅Succeeded	View
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1510.md	✅Succeeded	View
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	✅Succeeded	View

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docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1510.md	✅Succeeded	View
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	✅Succeeded	View

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[zivkan]

just a few suggestions that make it a little easier for me to read, but maybe it's worse for other people 😁

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR improves the documentation for NuGet's PrunePackageReference feature by clarifying its behavior for direct PackageReference items and updating warning conditions. The changes address several GitHub issues by providing clearer guidance on when warnings are raised and how the pruning mechanism works.

• Clarifies that NU1510 and NU1511 warnings are only raised when projects target .NET 10 or newer
• Documents the pruning behavior for direct PackageReference items with detailed examples
• Updates the main PrunePackageReference documentation to explain both transitive and direct package handling

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	Adds note clarifying warning is only raised for .NET 10+ projects
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1510.md	Expands documentation with multiple examples and clarifies when warning is raised
docs/consume-packages/Package-References-in-Project-Files.md	Updates PrunePackageReference section to document direct package behavior and provide comprehensive examples

[learn-build-service-prod]

Learn Build status updates of commit f1f3133:

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docs/consume-packages/Package-References-in-Project-Files.md	✅Succeeded	View
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1510.md	✅Succeeded	View
docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	✅Succeeded	View

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Learn Build status updates of commit aca1826:

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docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	✅Succeeded	View

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Learn Build status updates of commit 789af58:

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docs/reference/errors-and-warnings/NU1511.md	✅Succeeded	View

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[Frulfump]

Trying to better understand pruning (and NU1510), and how it relates to this document.

When doing dotnet package add System.Memory@4.6.3 I see the warning text but colored as info and then as a real warning with yellow text during dotnet build or dotnet restore. The dotnet package add command seem to trigger an implicit build, I thought it was only an implicit restore first (and why only the --no-restore exists on it, should a --no-build be added or is it required somehow)
(.NET 10 preview 6, maybe some of this changes with dotnet/sdk#49635?)

[nkolev92]

@Frulfump

When doing dotnet package add System.Memory@4.6.3 I see the warning text but colored as info

That sounds like an add package issue, rather than something specific to the pruning warning.
Can you please file an issue for that? (nuget/home repo)

The dotnet package add command seem to trigger an implicit build

That's unusual, that shouldn't be the case. Similarly please file an issue about that (dotnet/sdk repo for this one)

[Frulfump]

@Frulfump

When doing dotnet package add System.Memory@4.6.3 I see the warning text but colored as info

That sounds like an add package issue, rather than something specific to the pruning warning. Can you please file an issue for that? (nuget/home repo)

The dotnet package add command seem to trigger an implicit build

That's unusual, that shouldn't be the case. Similarly please file an issue about that (dotnet/sdk repo for this one)

Done

NuGet/Home#14443
dotnet/sdk#49921

[Frulfump]

Is this for preview 7+? I don't see this with preview 6. (And I need to set -tl:off to see anything interesting with dotnet build otherwise I just see the really compact build output)

Interestingly if I target .NET 8 I see

Task "GetPackagesToPrune"
Loading packages to prune for .NETCoreApp 8.0 Microsoft.NETCore.App
Loaded prune package data from framework packages
Done executing task "GetPackagesToPrune".

But when I target .NET 10 I see

Task "GetPackagesToPrune"
Loading packages to prune for .NETCoreApp 10.0 Microsoft.NETCore.App
Loading prune package data from PrunePackageData folder
Failed to load prune package data from PrunePackageData folder, loading from targeting packs instead
Looking for targeting packs in C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref
Pack directories found: C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref\10.0.0-preview.6.25358.103
Found package overrides file C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref\10.0.0-preview.6.25358.103\data\PackageOverrides.txt
Done executing task "GetPackagesToPrune".

I don't see System.Memory.dll in either bin folder (when System.Memory is transitively referenced via Azure.Identity@1.14.2) (not when targeting .NET 7 either) maybe that's expected?

And direct deps if I add just System.Memory directly isn't "fully" pruned as we discussed below and doesn't show up either. And NU1510 is triggered which says it will not be pruned. So line 497 isn't really what I see either?

[Frulfump]

Looks good to me, nice improvements/clarifications appreciated the examples and the updated table.