More GHI SDK versions on the same PC(2014-R5 and 2015-R1)

I would like to ask if it is possible to have installed more versions of GHI SDKs on the same PC and if yes how it is possible to simply switch between them?
I would like to switch to the latest 2015-R1 version but I need also to maintain PCBs with previous SDK(2014-R5) at least until we decide to switch to latest one.

AFAIK, not possible on the same machine. You would need to dedicate a machine to the older SDK version. If you have VM software that virtualizes USB, you might be able to do it using a virtual machine, but I’ve not tried that myself.

I’ve done that. GHI SDK is not much more than a few dll’s. So I created a local NuGet feed containing GHI dll’s of different versions, and, combined with source control, is working quite alright.

I still keep all versions of FEZ Config for updating firmware, and it is working, too.

Same here.
I have a similar home made System like NuGet, and by this I can quickly Switch between SDK Versions, even in a single Project.
I made the experiance that it’s best to have no GHI SDK installed to make it work best. I have only the latest MS NETMF SDK installed.
I Install each SDK once to get the dll’s, and then I distribute it with my NuGet like System to all dev machines, after that I uninstall GHI SDK.
Not sure if this works with Gadgeteer stuff as well.

LOL. OK, obviously I should have added the caveat “with the GHI installers”.

Good to know others have figured out ways to make this work. :slight_smile:

Simon and Reinhard bring up a great point - installed SDKs for the sort of things that the GHI sdk does are the ‘old way’ of doing things, and it is an approach with some important limitations.

Nuget brings all kinds of benefits. I would strongly suggest that future SDKs be packaged as Nuget packages to simplify side-by-side installation, automatic upgrading, build stability and build repeatability. Any pieces that are not per-project, like design-time and compile-time tools, could be installed as VS extensions (like Azure and SQLite are).

** EDIT ** added as a task-tracker item

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