What’s the status of CAT.NET?

Question

I’m trying to find Microsoft CAT.NET for VS2010 and it looks like there was a beta of their 2.0 version but every link to it in Microsoft Connect is now dead. This is the most recent reference I could find: http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytools/archive/2010/02/05/how-to-use-cat-net-2-0-beta.aspx

Some references suggest it may have been rolled into FxCop. Does anyone know the status of the project?

Answer 1

While they haven't released the new version, the good news is you can still use the old Add-in for CAT.NET 1.1.1.9 in Visual Studio 2010. All that is required is editing the default AddIn file to tell it to support the new version.

The file is installed to: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\Addins\Microsoft.ACESec.CATNet.AddIn. You can open it in a text editor and add a new node for <version>10.0</version>

After you edit the file, just restart Visual Studio and you should be all set.

If the AddIn file is not there, it should be in one of the locations specified in you VS Settings under Tools > Options > Environment > Add-ins / Macro Security.

Answer 2

Unfortunately it looks like the answer to my question is "In a perpetual state of limbo". Back in June there was a last minute design issue right before it was intended to be released.

In answer to my question on MSDN about the status I was told the same thing and that was now almost five months ago. There are a series of impatient follow-ups by the community on that thread and not a single word from Microsoft nor is there any update on the MSDN Security Tools page.

Don't hold your breath folks!