VAF upgrade to .NET Core/.NET 5+

Question

Hi M-Files and community, 
 As Microsoft makes a big jump in versions lately and there is soon even .NET 6 (LTS), I would be curious if M-Files plan upgrade of VAF framework on .NET Core/.NET 5+ framework. Currently we keep our VAF projects on latest .NET 4.8. I think this would be a good move to keep M-Files compatible with latest changes in Microsoft world. Also wondering if M-Files would work on servers that have only installed .NET Core and not whole .NET framework (I think system reuqirement is .NET 4.7.2+). 
 Is there any plans/timelines to support/be compatible with .NET Core/:NET 5+? 
 Best regards, 
 Dejan

Craig Hawker · Answer

M-Files itself has a base requirement of 4.5 (enforced in the installer, I believe). Some of our IML components already target 4.7.2 for some other reasons. 
 The reality is that you can already upgrade your project framework to target 4.8 if you can guarantee that it'll be on all the servers you use. As such, moving from 4.5 only has the real effect of alienating those who do not have newer versions of the runtime. 
 (of course: they should do, but in the real world it's not always the case) 
 Moving to 5 or higher is a much more complex endeavour. These newer runtime have a different set of machine requirements, and a different set of available functionality in the BCL. Again: we have discussed it, and it may happen in the future, but this would be a much more significant change than even going to 4.8. 
 Regards, 
 Craig.

VAF upgrade to .NET Core/.NET 5+

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