What is .NET Platform 5.4 in ASP.NET 5 Class Library (Package)?

Question

I've added a new Class Library (Package) into ASP.NET 5 based solution. I've noticed .NET Platform 5.4 section in it's project.json:

"frameworks": {
    "net451": {
          "dependencies": {}
    },
    "dotnet5.4": {
      "dependencies": {
        "Microsoft.CSharp": "4.0.1-beta-23516",
        "System.Collections": "4.0.11-beta-23516",
        "System.Linq": "4.0.1-beta-23516",
        "System.Runtime": "4.0.21-beta-23516",
        "System.Threading": "4.0.11-beta-23516"
      }
    }
}

What is it for? Why is it different from the ASP.NET web project?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure that's a temporary designation for .NET 5 pre-RTM. On Mac OSX .NET Core, the designation is dnxcore50.

One example: here's an announcement stating that dnxcore50 should be renamed to dotnet5.4. This was announced on October 31 2015.

And then on Dec 2 2015, Microsoft changed the designation to netstandard1.4 for a general API-level platform targeting and added back dnxcore50 to indicate .NET Core 5.0-specific platform targeting.

Looks like the .NET Standard Platform documentation is pretty stable and provide a more in-depth reading over the difference between ".NET Platform Standard" and "Platform".