modifications to nuget if possible

Question

I have been using Nuget package manager recently and have found it excellent. However I have a couple questions regarding it, they are pain points as such that I am hoping someone can help me improve:

• Firstly, is there any way to change the name of the "packages" folder to something else?
• Secondly, could someone explain if its possible to have the packages folder to be at the solution level as oppose to the project level? So when I add a package, it can be available for all the projects in the solution rather than just one. Reason I would like this is down not running in to issues where different projects may reference different versions of a dll.

Answer 1

Yes, You can rename the "packages" folder and also define it's location in nuget.config

Example:

<settings> 
    <repositoryPath>..\Build\NuGetPackages\</repositoryPath> 
</settings>