Verify Releases

Validate .NET release data in release-notes/ using the release-notes CLI tool. This skill checks that download URLs are live, file hashes match, CDN latest.version files are current, and aka.ms redirects resolve correctly.

Prerequisites

release-notes

The release-notes tool is published to GitHub Packages. The public dotnet-release tool is now for browsing release data and CVEs.

# Install
dotnet tool install -g release-notes \
  --add-source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/richlander/index.json

# Verify — must show "verify releases" in usage output
release-notes

Note: GitHub Packages requires authentication even for public repositories. If you get a 401 error, configure credentials:

dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/richlander/index.json \
  --name github-richlander \
  --username USERNAME \
  --password "$GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  --store-password-in-clear-text

Version check: If the tool usage output does not include verify releases in its command list, the installed version is too old. Update with:

dotnet tool update -g release-notes \
  --add-source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/richlander/index.json

Commands

Verify all supported versions (full — with hash verification)

Downloads every binary and verifies SHA512 hashes against releases.json. This is the most thorough check and takes several minutes.

release-notes verify releases release-notes

Verify all supported versions (quick — skip hashes)

Checks URL liveness, CDN latest.version, and aka.ms redirects only. Much faster — typically under 30 seconds.

release-notes verify releases release-notes --skip-hash

Verify a specific major version

release-notes verify releases 10.0 release-notes
release-notes verify releases 10.0 release-notes --skip-hash

Verify a specific patch release

release-notes verify releases 10.0.5 release-notes

What gets verified

Check	Description	Skippable?
URL liveness	HTTP HEAD on every download URL in the latest patch of each supported version's releases.json	No
SHA512 hashes	Downloads each binary and computes SHA512, compares against releases.json hash	Yes (--skip-hash)
CDN latest.version	Fetches CDN latest.version files for SDK, Runtime, and ASP.NET Core Runtime; compares against releases.json	No
aka.ms redirects	Follows aka.ms short URLs and verifies they redirect to the correct download URL	No

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	No issues found — all checks passed
2	Issues found — markdown report written to stdout

Timing expectations

Scenario	Expected duration
All versions, --skip-hash	10–30 seconds
Single version, --skip-hash	5–15 seconds
All versions, with hashes	3–10 minutes (downloads all binaries)
Single version, with hashes	1–3 minutes

CRITICAL: Never cancel the verification command early. Hash verification downloads large binaries and needs time to complete. Set your timeout to at least 10 minutes for full hash verification.

Process

1. Check tool version

Confirm release-notes is installed and has the verify releases command:

release-notes

The usage output must include release-notes verify releases [version] [path] [--skip-hash]. If it does not, update the tool (see Prerequisites).

2. Run verification

For a standard validation (recommended for release sign-off):

cd ~/git/core
release-notes verify releases release-notes

For a quick check during development:

release-notes verify releases release-notes --skip-hash

3. Interpret results

If exit code is 0: All checks passed. Report the results as a summary table.

If exit code is 2: The tool prints a markdown report to stdout listing all failures. Common issues:

Issue	Likely cause	Fix
URL returns non-200	Binary not yet published to CDN	Wait for CDN propagation, or fix URL in releases.json
Hash mismatch	Wrong hash in releases.json, or file was republished	Re-download and recompute hash, update releases.json
CDN latest.version mismatch	CDN hasn't been updated for the new release	Wait for CDN update, or escalate
aka.ms redirect wrong	Short URL not yet updated	Update aka.ms redirect configuration

4. Report results

Present a summary table with per-version results:

## .NET Release Link Verification Report

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Tool:** `release-notes` vX.Y.Z
**Command:** `release-notes verify releases release-notes`

| Version | Latest Release | Download URLs | SHA512 Hashes | CDN latest.version | aka.ms | Status |
|---------|---------------|---------------|---------------|-------------------|--------|--------|
| .NET 11.0 | `11.0.0-preview.2` | 82/82 ✅ | 81/81 ✅ | ✅ | 1/1 ✅ | **Pass** |
| .NET 10.0 | `10.0.5` | 85/85 ✅ | 84/84 ✅ | ✅ | 1/1 ✅ | **Pass** |
| .NET 9.0 | `9.0.14` | 56/56 ✅ | 53/53 ✅ | ✅ | 1/1 ✅ | **Pass** |
| .NET 8.0 | `8.0.25` | 55/55 ✅ | 53/53 ✅ | ✅ | 1/1 ✅ | **Pass** |

**Total:** 278 URLs verified, 271 hashes verified, all CDN and aka.ms checks passed.

When --skip-hash is used, omit the SHA512 Hashes column and note it in the report.

Regenerating legacy files

After verifying releases, you may also want to regenerate the legacy index and markdown:

# Regenerate releases-index.json
release-notes generate releases-index release-notes

# Regenerate releases.md
release-notes generate releases release-notes

# Lint the generated markdown
npx markdownlint --config .github/linters/.markdown-lint.yml release-notes/releases.md

Common mistakes

Mistake	Correction
Cancelling verification early	Never cancel — hash downloads need time. Wait for completion.
Running with outdated tool version	Check that usage shows verify releases. Update if needed.
Ignoring exit code 2	Exit code 2 means issues were found. Read the stdout report.
Only running --skip-hash for release sign-off	Full hash verification should be run before signing off a release.
Running from wrong directory	Run from the repo root so release-notes resolves correctly.