This directory contains the C# Protocol Buffers runtime library.
This code is still under significant churn. Unlike the original port, it only supports proto3 (but not all of proto3 yet) - there are no unknown fields or extensions, for example. protoc will (eventually) deliberately fail if it is asked to generate C# code for proto2 messages other than descriptor.proto, which is still required for reflection. (It‘s currently exposed publicly, but won’t be eventually.)
Also unlike the original port, the new version embraces mutability - there are no builder types.
The easiest way how to use C# protobufs is via the Google.Protobuf NuGet package. Just add the NuGet package to your VS project.
Besides C# runtime library, the NuGet package also contains precompiled version of protoc.exe and a copy of well known .proto files under the package's tools directory.
To generate C# files from your .proto files, invoke protoc with the --csharp_out option.
The runtime library is built as a portable class library, supporting:
Open the src/Google.Protobuf.sln solution in Visual Studio. Click “Build solution” to build the solution. You should be able to run the NUnit test from Test Explorer (you might need to install NUnit Visual Studio add-in).
Supported Visual Studio versions are VS2013 (update 4) and VS2015. On Linux, you can also use Monodevelop 5.9 (older versions might work fine).
This subtree was originally imported from https://github.com/jskeet/protobuf-csharp-port and represents the latest development version of C# protobufs, that will now be developed and maintained by Google. All the development will be done in open, under this repository (https://github.com/google/protobuf).