visual studio - Why use NuGet over installing libraries directly on my machine

Question

I don't get it - can someone please explain to me why I should use NuGet rather than installing a bunch of libraries via a setup.exe or MSI? What advantage is there?

For example is it better to install Entity Framework 4.3 via NuGet rather than downloading the setup? Also, if I install entity framework via NuGet then is it available to any new solutions or projects that I create (bit confused here).

Basically what does NuGet do that a normal install doesn't do (or vice versa!)

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9784186/why-use-nuget-over-installing-libraries-directly-on-my-machine

Answer 1

Besides making it simple to add a package to your project, I think NuGet's biggest advantage is dependency management.

NuGet allows project owners to package their libraries as packages. Before, if they depended on other libraries like log4net, they would include those assemblies in their setup/zip file and upload to their web site.

With NuGet, they simply add a reference to these external packages in the .nuspec file. When NuGet installs the package, it will see that there are dependencies and will automatically download and install those packages as well. It also supports conflict management so that if 2 packages depends on different versions, it will figure out the correct one to install.

I think the best way to determine if NuGet will work for you is to actually try using it. I'm sure that once you do, you'll realize that it has many benefits.