How do I publish a NuGet package for a legacy assembly?

[Rod-at-DOH]

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I'm trying to publish my first NuGet package to a GitHub Package in our GH organization. The DLL is written using .NET Framework 4.5.2, so as far as I know that means I cannot use a command line argument like dotnet nuget. Instead I've downloaded the NuGet.exe, then placed that in a folder that's in my PATH environmental variable. That works fine and I've created a .nuspec file, then made the necessary modifications to it, then I generated the .nupkg file. Previously I created a classic personal access token. I've been following the Working with the NuGet registry tutorial, but when I get to Publishing a package at Step 3, it has this example:

dotnet nuget push "bin/Release/PROJECT_NAME.1.0.0.nupkg" --api-key YOUR_GITHUB_PAT --source "github"

I believe I'm back to the problem of having an example that uses dotnet nuget, whereas I cannot use that, but must use the legacy style due to the assembly being written using .NET Framework 4.5.2. Now, if I'm wrong; if I can use the dotnet nuget command instead, please let me know! Otherwise, if I'm correct that I cannot use dotnet nuget here, how do I proceed to publish to a GH Puackage in our GH organization?

[GeoffreyFClark]

To publish a NuGet package to a GitHub Package Registry using nuget.exe, you need to open the directory containing the .nupkg file and run nuget.exe push PROJECT_NAME.1.0.0.nupkg -ApiKey YOUR_GITHUB_PAT -Source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/OWNER/index.json (replace placeholders with your personal access token, organization name, and package name).

Make sure your token has write:packages, read:packages, and repo permissions, and configure the registry to be a NuGet source using a nuget.config file that includes your GitHub credentials.

[Rod-at-DOH]

Thank you for your response, @GeoffreyFClark. I do have some clarifying questions concerning the nuget.exe push command you gave. Here they are:

First clarifying question

What is the PROJECT_NAME? Is that the name of the project in Visual Studio? I've named the project, and its repo, the same. (In this case the name of the repo in our GH Org repositories.) If it is the same name as the repo and Visual Studio project, then would issuing that nuget.exe push command overwrite what's in that repo/project?

Second clarifying question

I've already generated a Personal Access Token (PAT), Classic. Is "YOUR_GITHUB_PAT" the name I've given the PAT, or the key? I can see entering the key here at the command line, but I'm not sure which to use.

Third clarifying question

Another thing is the NuGet.Config file, which I understand must include my GH credentials. Since I presume that would be in the same folder as the project file (my .csproj file), that would mean it would be committed to the repo, when I perform the next Git commit. How do I obfuscate my credentials in the NuGet.Config file? Or do I make sure that the NuGet.Config file is ignored in the .gitignore file?

[GeoffreyFClark]

PROJECT_NAME is your NuGet package name, usually the same as your project name. Running nuget.exe push won't overwrite your repo, it just uploads your package to the NuGet feed.

YOUR_GITHUB_PAT is the Personal Access Token itself, not its name. You use it to authenticate when you're pushing the package to GitHub.

You're right, you don't want to commit your PAT to your repo. Instead, put it in an environment variable and reference that in your NuGet.Config file. e.g.
< configuration >
  < packageSources >
    < add key="github" value="https://nuget.pkg.github.com/OWNER/index.json" />
  </ packageSources>

  < packageSourceCredentials>
    < github>
      < add key="Username" value="YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME" />
      < add key="ClearTextPassword" value="%GITHUB_PAT%" />
    </ github>
  </ packageSourceCredentials>
</ configuration>

%GITHUB_PAT% being an environment variable in this example holding your PAT. NuGet will replace %GITHUB_PAT% with the value of the GITHUB_PAT environment variable.

To set the GITHUB_PAT environment variable on your machine to your actual PAT, you can use this command on Windows:
setx GITHUB_PAT "your_pat_here"
or for Linux or MacOS:
export GITHUB_PAT=your_pat_here
(Replace your_pat_here with your actual PAT)
This way, your PAT isn't in your repo, but you can still commit the NuGet.Config file.

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