NuGetToCompLog 0.1.0

NuGet to CompLog

A tool to extract compilation information from NuGet packages.

What does it do?

Imagine you find an interesting NuGet package on nuget.org and want to understand exactly how it was compiled. This tool takes a package name, downloads it, and extracts all the compiler settings, references, and source information that was baked into it. The result is a CompLog file—a portable, self-contained snapshot containing everything needed to rebuild that package from source.

In plain English: It's like taking a snapshot of a build. Everything that went into compiling that package gets captured in one .complog file that you can move around and use to replay the original compilation.

Install

dotnet tool install -g NuGetToCompLog

This installs the nuget-to-complog command globally. Upgrade with dotnet tool update -g NuGetToCompLog.

Example

# Download Newtonsoft.Json and extract its compilation info
nuget-to-complog Newtonsoft.Json 13.0.3

# Creates: Newtonsoft.Json.13.0.3.complog
# This file now contains all compiler settings, dependencies, and sources

Why would I use this?

• Understand how packages are built - See exact compiler flags, optimizations, and settings
• Verify reproducibility - Confirm you can rebuild a package identically
• Analyze dependencies - Inspect what each package references
• Archive build information - Keep a permanent snapshot of how a package was compiled
• Security auditing - Examine source and compilation details of dependencies

Quick Start

# Install
dotnet tool install -g NuGetToCompLog

# Extract a package's compilation info
nuget-to-complog Newtonsoft.Json 13.0.3

This creates a .complog file in your current directory with all the compilation details.

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/slang25/nuget-to-complog.git
cd nuget-to-complog
dotnet build
dotnet run --project src/NuGetToCompLog -- Newtonsoft.Json 13.0.3

How it works

1. Downloads the package from nuget.org
2. Finds the PDB files (debug symbols with compiler information)
3. Extracts compiler settings like optimization flags, target framework, and references
4. Packages everything into a portable .complog file

Important note

Not all packages include the necessary information. For a CompLog to be created successfully, the package needs to have been built with:

• Deterministic builds enabled
• Portable PDB files (not Windows PDB format)
• Embedded or available symbols

Most modern packages meet these requirements, but older packages or packages not built with SDK-style projects may not. The tool handles this gracefully—if information can't be found, it will tell you why.

What you get

The .complog file contains:

• Exact compiler command-line arguments
• All referenced assemblies and their versions
• Source file paths and content
• Metadata about the build

You can then use the complog CLI tool to extract or replay the compilation.

Documentation

See the docs folder for detailed documentation:

• Architecture - Deep technical details about how the tool works
• Project Summary - Project overview
• Changelog - What's changed
• Quick Start Guide - Get started in 3 minutes
• Examples - Usage examples