Is it bad practice to include .exe files in a Nuget package?

Question

First of all, I would like to clarify that I'm coming from a Java/Maven background.

I am managing Nexus and we have a team that are developing in .NET who are asking whether they can store exe files in Nexus under a Nuget repository. As this is not possible (and exe-s are not really artifacts as in "archives"), are Nuget packages a reasonable place to store exe-s? I would personally say "no", as, in my opinion, Nuget packages are supposed to just contain libraries and other resources, but as I'm not a .NET developer myself, I'd like to find out what the best practices are.

Answer 1

are Nuget packages a reasonable place to store exe-s?

If it's a tool, then yes. There are several good examples where Nuget is an excellent place to store exe-files.

For example:

The nuget package dotless has a tool (standalone exe), which is a compiler for CSS-files. This enables us to use that tool in our (TFS-) build server without installing any third party software on the build server.

But other than that, I agree with you. A Nuget-package is mainly for libraries and other resources that will be references in the project. But it's after all just a platform for spreading code between developers and different teams.

Or as Nuget puts it:

No matter what your package does or what code it contains, NuGet is how you package that functionality into a component that can be shared with and used by any number of other developers.

Answer 2

If the purpose of your nuget package is to deploy an executable program, then sure you can store an exe in there - what other option is there after all!