Is .sln file required by Visual Studio for ASP.NET 5 project? Can it just use Global.json?

Question

In a ASP.NET 5 project Visual Studio creates a SLN file. There is also a global.json file which my understanding was the core solution file.

Is SLN file just for VS support? Can you open a solution in VS without using SLN file?

I assume non VS tooling ignores the SLN file as it is folder based?

Answer 1

As far as I'm aware, the SLN is a 100% Visual Studio Tooling concept.

You can still create applications, run/compile/publish them without this file. That's how Visual Studio Code does it and that's how you would do it in Sublime/Atom or any other editors.

UPDATE:

I've read reports that Visual Studio can open global.json and project.json file without their respective sln/xproj file present.