Release executables went from being standalone to requiring a .NET runtime

[maxz]

Version

5.4.1

Which operating systems have you used?

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS
• Other

What is the architectural bit size you're using?

• 32-bit
• 64-bit
• Unsure or unknown

What processor are you using?

• An Intel or AMD
• An ARM or Apple Silicon
• Unsure or unknown

Description

Previous versions of Aaru were built as standalone executables.
From version 5.4 onward they are not standalone anymore and require the .NET runtime (specifically version 8) to be installed.

Is this an intended change or an oversight?
It does not seem intentional when looking at the v5.4 branch.

Exact command line used

./aaru

Expected behavior

Required command was not provided.

aaru:
  aaru 5.4.1+4f340c91.4f340c91ab777f3dd780fe98f96678cace46b7fa Copyright © 2011-2025 Natalia
  Portillo

Usage:
  aaru [options] [command]

Options:
  -v, --verbose     Shows verbose output.
  -d, --debug       Shows debug output from plugins.
  --pause           Pauses before exiting.
  --version         Show version information
  -?, -h, --help    Show help and usage information

Commands:
  database, db          Commands to manage the device and statistics database
  dev, device           Commands that talks to devices
  fi, filesystem, fs    Commands to manage filesystems
  i, image              Commands to manage images
  m, media              Commands to manage media inserted in devices
  configure             Configures user settings and statistics.
  formats               Lists all supported disc images, partition schemes and file systems.
  list-encodings        Lists all supported text encodings and code pages.
  list-namespaces       Lists all namespaces supported by read-only filesystems.
  remote <host>         Tests connection to a Aaru Remote Server.

Actual behavior

It was not possible to find any compatible framework version
The framework 'Microsoft.NETCore.App', version '8.0.18' was not found.
  - No frameworks were found.

You can resolve the problem by installing the specified framework and/or SDK.

The specified framework can be found at:
  - https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-applaunch?framework=Microsoft.NETCore.App&framework_version=8.0.18&arch=x64

[claunia]

WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS?!

[claunia]

What package are you using, deb, rpm or tarball?

[maxz]

The tarball.

aaru-5.3.2_linux_amd64.tar.gz (37.3 MB) works fine without an external runtime.

aaru-5.4.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz (6.17 MB) and aaru-5.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz (7.73 MB) require a .NET 8 runtime (in my case 8.0.413, I tried it with 9 first and it failed) and the environment variable DOTNET_ROOT to be set to the appropriate location.

EDIT: I added the size of each archive, which also makes it apparent that they are packaged differently.