Bennewitz.Ninja.AutoVersioning 2026.2.522

Bennewitz.Ninja.AutoVersioning

A Roslyn incremental source generator that injects assembly metadata attributes and build-time constants into .NET projects at compile time — no AssemblyInfo.cs, no disk writes, full IDE caching.

Requirements

.NET SDK 6.0 or later (requires Roslyn 4.0+ for IIncrementalGenerator support). The consuming project may target any framework — .NET Framework 4.x, .NET Standard, .NET 6+, etc.

Quick Start

1. Add the package:

<PackageReference Include="Bennewitz.Ninja.AutoVersioning" Version="x.x.x" />

2. Enable the generator in your root Directory.Build.props (or any .props / .csproj imported by your build):

<PropertyGroup>
  <GenerateAutoVersionedAssemblyInfo>true</GenerateAutoVersionedAssemblyInfo>
  <AssemblyCompany>YourCompany</AssemblyCompany>
  <AssemblyProduct>YourProduct</AssemblyProduct>

  
  <CommitSha Condition="'$(CommitSha)' == ''">$(GITHUB_SHA)</CommitSha>
  <IsContinuousIntegration>$(GITHUB_ACTIONS)</IsContinuousIntegration>
  <PublicVersion Condition="'$(PublicVersion)' == ''">$(MY_VERSION_VAR)</PublicVersion>
</PropertyGroup>

Note: The package's auto-imported Build.props automatically suppresses the 8 SDK-generated attributes that conflict with this generator (e.g. AssemblyVersion, AssemblyCopyright). It uses granular per-attribute suppressions rather than <GenerateAssemblyInfo>false</GenerateAssemblyInfo>, which means InternalsVisibleTo and all other SDK-generated attributes continue to work normally. Do not add <GenerateAssemblyInfo>false</GenerateAssemblyInfo> yourself — it will break InternalsVisibleTo.

A ready-to-use template is available at Directory.Build.props.template.

3. Build. The generator runs automatically — no further setup needed.

Tip: View the generated files in your IDE under Dependencies → Analyzers → *SourceGenerators.

Generated Output

Given a build on 2026-04-29 at 14:35 UTC for company Acme Corp, product Acme App, commit abc1234def, and public version 3.1.0:

AutoVersionedAssemblyInfo.g.cs

using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

[assembly: AssemblyDescription("Assembly Version: 2026.2.429.1435")]
[assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("Release")]
[assembly: AssemblyCompany("Acme Corp")]
[assembly: AssemblyProduct("Acme App v2026.2.429.1435")]
[assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright 2026 [Release]")]
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("2026.2.429.1435")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("2026.2.429.1435")]
[assembly: AssemblyInformationalVersion("Commit♥: abc1234def")]
[assembly: AssemblyMetadata("CommitSha", "abc1234def")]
[assembly: AssemblyMetadata("GITHUB_SHA", "abc1234def")]
[assembly: AssemblyMetadata("PublicVersion", "3.1.0")]

DirectoryBuildInfo.g.cs

// <auto-generated/>
namespace Bennewitz.Ninja.AutoVersioning
{
    /// <summary>Build-time constants generated by the source generator.</summary>
    public static class DirectoryBuildInfo
    {
        public const string BuildRelease = "Version 2026.2.429.1435 [built 4/29/2026 2:35:00 PM (UTC)]";
    }
}

Use DirectoryBuildInfo.BuildRelease wherever you need the build version at runtime — error trackers, log enrichment, health endpoints — without reading environment variables.

Configuration Reference

CI Provider Mappings

Version Format

The generator uses CalVer: YEAR.QUARTER.MMDD.HHmm

How It Works

This is a modern C# IIncrementalGenerator. Compared to legacy ISourceGenerator approaches it:

• Runs entirely in-memory — zero files written to disk
• Uses the Roslyn caching pipeline — the IDE (Rider, Visual Studio) only re-runs the generator when its inputs change, eliminating background compilation loops
• Reads MSBuild properties via AnalyzerConfigOptionsProvider — safe, no direct environment variable reads

The package auto-imports Build.props via NuGet, which declares CompilerVisibleProperty items and suppresses the SDK's default AssemblyInfo generation (preventing CS0579 duplicate attribute errors when the generator is enabled).

Diagnostics

Building Locally

Requires PowerShell 7+ and the .NET SDK.

./Pack.ps1

The script prompts for a version (defaults to CalVer YYYY.Q.MMDD) and produces .nupkg files in packages/Debug/ and packages/Release/.

License

MIT © 2026 Brian Bennewitz