What is the difference between .Net Core installer vs .Net Core binaries?

Question

On the .Net Core SDK download page

What are the binaries for? how does it differ from the installer?

Answer 1

.NET Core tries to serve several target audience types. The two different types of download reflect that: some will want the installer, some will want the binaries.

If you want to install .NET Core on your machine and develop against it using something like Visual Studio, you want to use the .NET Core installer. The installer is basically your regular software installer - it will install .NET Core on your system.

The binaries are for a different use case. Lets say you are developing on a machine where you dont have Administrator privleges. Or you are using container technologies like Docker or Kubernetes. In all of these cases, it's easier to download a zip file containing the application, extract it to some location (possibly within a container) and then use that directly in your build system. It's less user-friendly, but more flexible.

Both downloads include the .NET Core binaries (including the JIT compiler, framework libraries, sdks and so on). The only real difference is what a user will need to do after downloading it to install or use it.

Answer 2

The binaries are .NET Core's compiled code. They have all the information needed to run .NET Core, but they do not prep your computing environment. The .NET Core installers automate the setup processes by preping the computing environment and placing/installing the binaries in their appropriate locations.

Overview:

• Source code: text files with .h, .cpp, etc extensions. These need to be compiled.
• Binaries: .exe extension, previously compiled source code. These are compiled, don't need to compile anymore.
• Installer: assists with the correct installation and setup of the binaries (software). This contains binaries, but also additional resources.

Relevant Link:

Installers vs Binaries