Is it possible to make a C# app WITHOUT the user needing to have .NET?

[ateryu]

I don't really understand this. If I select to create a single executable file, then the file does not include necessary components for .NET, meaning that if a user who does not have .NET tries to run the app, it tells them they need to install .NET to run it. And I've found a solution to this is to include the entirety of .NET in the application which makes the .exe file size huge also it does fix the issue I just described.

However, is that really necessary? If I want to make a WinForms app is there any way to do that without the user needing to install anything or without me needing to make the exe file size huge?

 

[Skydiver]

See:

Native AOT deployment overview - .NET

Learn what Native AOT deployments are and why you should consider using it as part of the publishing your app with .NET 7 and later.

learn.microsoft.com

 

[Skydiver]

C# is just a language. The framework is the set of libraries that let's you interact with the OS or implement some well known algorithms without having to roll your own solution. Like a lot of the modern languages, some C# language features are also dependent on the framework. So basically you can't escape having to drag in the framework into your single executable. If you minimize your depencies on the framework, then you can minimize the size of your executable.

You seem to be expecting to create some something like 100KB Win32 program and just ship that 100KB .EXE to your other Windows using friends. Do you have that expectation of just also shipping 100KB to your Mac and Linux using friends without them having to install about 8GB other stuff that emulates Windows on their OS? If you say "of course not" , then why have expectations of your .NET dependent code being able to run on other Windows machine which don't have .NET?

 

[cjard]

It's kinda like saying "i want to make an PlayStation game that can be played without owning a PlayStation"

Nearly everything in this life is dependent on something..

 

[Skydiver]

Yeah, the good old days when you could just write code that talked to the 6502, SID chip, and read/write specific memory addresses on a Commodore 64 are hard to come by nowadays unless you really interface with the metal on something like a Raspberry Pi.

 

[Skydiver]

I did read that C# now allows for Ahead Of Time compilation and the ability to compile in just the parts of the .NET framework into a single executable. Still dependent on Windows, but it almost sounds like its possible to run without the .NET framework installed separately.