#Install and set up

Everything NetForms needs comes from NuGet: the library (NetForms), the project templates (NetForms.Templates) and the converter (NetForms.Convert). You install the .NET SDK, a few system libraries on Linux, and optionally VS Code with the designer.

#1. The .NET 10 SDK

NetForms targets net10.0 only (see Compatibility). Check what you have:

dotnet --list-sdks     # a line starting with 10.0 is needed

#Windows 10 / 11

winget install Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10

or the installer from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0.

#Ubuntu 24.04 and later

.NET 10 is in Ubuntu's own archive:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y dotnet-sdk-10.0

#Debian 12 / 13

From Microsoft's package repository:

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/12/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb && rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y dotnet-sdk-10.0

(Debian 13: replace 12 with 13 in the URL.)

#Fedora

sudo dnf install -y dotnet-sdk-10.0

If your Fedora release does not have the package yet, use the script below.

#Astra Linux, RED OS, ALT Linux and any other distribution

Microsoft's install script works on every glibc-based Linux and needs no root:

curl -sSL https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh -o dotnet-install.sh
bash dotnet-install.sh --channel 10.0
echo 'export DOTNET_ROOT=$HOME/.dotnet' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.dotnet:$HOME/.dotnet/tools' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

If your distribution packages .NET 10 itself, its package works as well.

#2. System libraries (Linux)

A desktop installation usually has all of them. On a minimal system, a server or in a container, install:

What they are for: ICU is .NET's globalization (without it set DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=1, and cultures fall back to invariant formatting); fontconfig and a TrueType font are what text is drawn with; libX11, libICE, libSM are Avalonia's X11 backend. On Wayland desktops NetForms windows run through XWayland, which GNOME and KDE install by default.

WinForms' default font is Segoe UI. Where it is not installed, the closest sans-serif family is used and text can be a pixel or two wider or narrower than on Windows. Controls with AutoSize adapt; fixed-size labels that were cut to the pixel on Windows may need a little more room.

#3. Templates and the converter

# project and item templates: dotnet new netforms, netforms-form, netforms-usercontrol
dotnet new install NetForms.Templates::0.1.0-preview.3

# the converter for existing WinForms projects
dotnet tool install -g NetForms.Convert --prerelease

Update them later with dotnet new update and dotnet tool update -g NetForms.Convert --prerelease; remove with dotnet new uninstall NetForms.Templates and dotnet tool uninstall -g NetForms.Convert. Global tools live in ~/.dotnet/tools (Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools (Windows), which must be on PATH.

#4. VS Code and the designer

1. VS Code. Windows: winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode. Linux: the .deb or .rpm from https://code.visualstudio.com/download, or sudo snap install code --classic. Prefer those to the Flatpak build: its sandbox does not see the system dotnet without extra setup.
2. C#. The C# extension (ms-dotnettools.csharp) for IntelliSense, build and debugging. In VSCodium and other editors that use Open VSX: muhammad-sammy.csharp.
3. NetForms Designer. Extensions view → search NetForms → Install, or code --install-extension netforms.netforms-designer. It is one extension for every system: the Marketplace keeps a build per platform (Windows and Linux, x64 and arm64; macOS builds too, untested) under the same name, and VS Code downloads the one for your machine by itself. Without access to the Marketplace, take the .vsix for your platform from GitHub Releases (netforms-designer-linux-x64.vsix, -win32-x64, …, about 15 MB) or the universal netforms-designer-<version>.vsix that works everywhere (about 40 MB), and run code --install-extension <file>.vsix.
4. Check. Command palette → NetForms: Check Setup shows the dotnet found, the designer host and the installed templates.

If dotnet is not on the PATH VS Code sees (the install script above, a custom location), set Settings → NetForms → Dotnet Path (netforms.dotnetPath), for example /home/me/.dotnet/dotnet.

The designer host runs on the .NET 10 runtime you installed with the SDK. Editing forms needs no network; creating a project or a form the first time installs NetForms.Templates from NuGet.

#5. Without internet access

NetForms needs NuGet only to restore packages. In a closed network, put the packages on a file share or an internal feed (Nexus, Artifactory, ProGet, BaGet) and point NuGet at it:

dotnet nuget add source /srv/nuget -n internal          # a folder with the .nupkg files
dotnet new install /srv/nuget/NetForms.Templates.0.1.0-preview.3.nupkg
dotnet tool install -g NetForms.Convert --prerelease --add-source /srv/nuget

The folder needs the NetForms packages and their dependencies (Avalonia, SkiaSharp, HarfBuzzSharp, System.Resources.Extensions, System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager and what they depend on). The simplest way to collect them is to restore a NetForms project once on a machine with internet access and copy the .nupkg files from its NuGet cache (dotnet nuget locals global-packages --list).

#6. Shipping an application to Linux

# needs the .NET 10 runtime on the target machine
dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --self-contained false -o publish/linux-x64

# carries the runtime with it: nothing to install besides the system libraries of section 2
dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --self-contained true -o publish/linux-x64

Use linux-arm64 for ARM machines and win-x64 for Windows. Copy the folder and run the executable (./MyApp). To show the application in the desktop menu, add a .desktop file:

# ~/.local/share/applications/myapp.desktop  (or /usr/share/applications/ for all users)
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=My App
Exec=/opt/myapp/MyApp
Icon=/opt/myapp/myapp.png
Categories=Office;

Single-file publishing and Native AOT are not supported yet.

#7. Problems

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