GitHub actions and trusted publishing & removal of .NET 4.5 support - #6328

Walkthrough

The changes add GitHub Actions automation for builds, tests, coverage, package creation, and conditional publishing. They update project and test settings, replace the schema packaging process, remove AppVeyor scripts, and revise CI documentation.

Changes

GitHub Actions CI and Release Pipeline

Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes

Severity of issue fixed: Low

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant GitHubActions
  participant DotNetCLI
  participant Codecov
  participant NuGetOrg
  GitHubActions->>DotNetCLI: Build, test, and run validation checks
  DotNetCLI-->>GitHubActions: Return test results and coverage artifacts
  GitHubActions->>Codecov: Upload coverage reports
  GitHubActions->>DotNetCLI: Restore and pack solution and schema
  DotNetCLI-->>GitHubActions: Produce NuGet package artifacts
  GitHubActions->>NuGetOrg: Push packages when publishing conditions are met

Merge Risk: Moderate · up to 17cce

A Codecov failure can block package publishing, while an ordinary main-branch push can publish the stable package version before the intended release. Resolve or explicitly accept these release risks before merging.

Pre-merge checks: 4

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check		Issue #6343 reports that LogFactoryTests.FlushAsync_TargetTimeout_Async is flaky. The test now uses ManualResetEvent instances to wait until the target write starts, trigger and verify cancellatio…
Out of Scope Changes check		The workflow, build and test project configuration, coverage setup, XSD packaging, and CI documentation implement the PR's GitHub Actions migration and related build goals. The changes to #6343 and ot…
Title check		The title names two changes: GitHub Actions with trusted publishing, and removal of .NET 4.5 support. The changeset adds .github/workflows/ci.yml, removes appveyor.yml, build.ps1 and run-tests.ps1, an…
Description check		The description states the PR creates a new GitHub Actions CI, drops the Mono build and adds Ubuntu builds, moves coverage measurement to net10, changes XSD generation to avoid nuget.exe, fixes the fl…

Full details: Linked Issues check

Explanation

Issue #6343 reports that LogFactoryTests.FlushAsync_TargetTimeout_Async is flaky. The test now uses ManualResetEvent instances to wait until the target write starts, trigger and verify cancellation, release the blocked write in finally, and verify that the write task completes. This replaces the sleep-based timing and addresses the issue.

Full details: Out of Scope Changes check

Explanation

The workflow, build and test project configuration, coverage setup, XSD packaging, and CI documentation implement the PR's GitHub Actions migration and related build goals. The changes to #6343 and other test reliability adjustments support stable CI. The reviewed changes show no demonstrated unrelated work.

Full details: Title check

Explanation

The title names two changes: GitHub Actions with trusted publishing, and removal of .NET 4.5 support. The changeset adds .github/workflows/ci.yml, removes appveyor.yml, build.ps1 and run-tests.ps1, and adds NuGet publishing from the workflow. The net45 target is replaced by net481 in NLog.proj, and README-developers.md drops net45. The title is related to the main change. It is not fully precise, since the summaries show no explicit trusted publishing configuration, and the NET45 removal is partial: several test files now enable NET45 rather than drop it.

Full details: Description check

Explanation

The description states the PR creates a new GitHub Actions CI, drops the Mono build and adds Ubuntu builds, moves coverage measurement to net10, changes XSD generation to avoid nuget.exe, fixes the flaky FlushAsync_TargetTimeout_Async test, and removes .NET 4.5 support. Each point matches changes in the summary, including ci.yml, the deleted appveyor.yml and build scripts, the NLog.Schema.Pack project, the LogFactoryTests change, and the codecov.yml addition. The description is specific and on topic.

• Autofix · Keep fixing CodeRabbit findings and required CI, and resolving merge conflicts

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_{A rabbit checks the build at dawn,
Then watches tests run, one by one.
Coverage hops to Codecov’s door,
New packages queue for more.
CI takes the AppVeyor trail,
While carrots cheer each passing tale.}

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

@snakefoot please let me know if there are any concerns here, otherwise I will start the final checks and merge this PR

maybe rename this to 6.3.0?

https://github.com/NLog/NLog/milestone/142?closed=1

maybe rename this to 6.3.0?

https://github.com/NLog/NLog/milestone/142?closed=1

Think it looks really great and NLog v6.3.0 sounds like a good idea. If you are in a hurry, then please merge #6348 as it is, before releasing.

@snakefoot thanks! Im not in a hurry, but I do like merged PRs. Also I don't like the crashing (and slow) appyeyor in the other prs.

I will probably merge this one Friday. Then we could close the last things before release - I prefer to complete all of https://github.com/NLog/NLog/milestone/142 before releasing.

Good to know, the other PRs I requested a review request are low prio to me.

There are also some last tasks on Modernize CI/CD (2026). I will try to finish that next week. Those aren't blockers for the release.

@snakefoot I see I also removed the net45 binary not only from the tests, but also from the package. Do you think we should restore net45 in the package? Im doubting as it has been removed from other NLog packages in 6.3

Update: this is a breaking change for the gzipfile package, as there is no net35 dll there:

But OK, .NET 4.5 is EOL for 4 years. So maybe we should just accept it

I think we should accept it for 6.3

NLog.Schema looks good and also fixed hrow new NLogRuntimeException($"{GetType()}: Failed loading SSL certificate", ex) in the docs:

Also fixes this (left old)

unified diff:

I think we should accept it for 6.3

Agree, unless some major point-of-sales operator wants to use latest version of NLog v6 on Win95