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NAnt Training — Legacy .NET Build Automation & Migration

Learn NAnt for maintaining legacy .NET Framework build systems. Build file configuration, custom tasks, and migration strategies to MSBuild. For enterprises with NAnt-based build infrastructure.

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What Is NAnt?

NAnt (Not Ant) is a .NET build tool inspired by Apache Ant, using XML build files to automate .NET Framework compilation, testing, and deployment. Popular in the 2004–2010 era, NAnt has been superseded by MSBuild as the standard .NET build platform. However, some enterprise .NET Framework applications — particularly in financial services and government — still have NAnt-based build infrastructure that requires maintenance and migration.

Where NAnt Fits in Modern DevOps

NAnt is a legacy build tool — MSBuild is the standard for .NET builds. This course teaches NAnt for maintaining existing NAnt-based build systems, integrating them into modern CI/CD pipelines where necessary, and planning NAnt-to-MSBuild migration. It is not recommended for new .NET projects.

Who Should Attend

  • .NET developers maintaining inherited NAnt build scripts
  • DevOps engineers integrating legacy NAnt builds into CI/CD
  • Build/release engineers planning NAnt-to-MSBuild migration

Learning Outcomes

  • Read, write, and maintain NAnt build files for .NET Framework projects
  • Use NAntContrib tasks for extended functionality
  • Integrate NAnt builds into Jenkins and CI/CD pipelines
  • Plan and execute NAnt-to-MSBuild migration strategies

Course Modules

  1. NAnt Fundamentals — Build file structure. Targets, tasks, properties. NAnt vs. Ant relationship.
  2. .NET Compilation with NAnt — Csc and Vbc tasks. Solution compilation. Assembly signing.
  3. Testing & Packaging — NUnit integration. ZIP/tar packaging. Deployment tasks.
  4. NAnt in CI/CD — Jenkins + NAnt. Build artifacts. Pipeline integration.
  5. Migration to MSBuild — NAnt to MSBuild mapping. Incremental migration. Coexistence strategies.
  6. Capstone: Legacy Build Migration — Analyze a NAnt build, integrate with CI/CD, plan and begin MSBuild migration.

Hands-on Exercises

Write NAnt build files for .NET Framework projects. Configure NUnit test execution with reporting. Run NAnt builds in Jenkins. Plan a migration from NAnt to MSBuild with task-by-task mapping.

Enterprise Use Cases

  • Maintaining NAnt-based .NET Framework 3.5/4.0 build systems in financial applications
  • Integrating NAnt builds into modern CI/CD infrastructure during migration
  • Planning incremental NAnt-to-MSBuild migration with zero build downtime

Related Courses

After migration, see MSBuild Training and .NET Build & Release Training.

TOOLS_COVERED

NAnt MSBuild Team Foundation Server Jenkins

PREREQUISITES

  • Basic .NET Framework knowledge
  • XML fundamentals

CURRICULUM

Covers: Jenkins, Bamboo, TeamCity, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps. Hands-on labs and real-world scenarios.
Covers: Apache Maven, Gradle, Apache Ant, MSBuild, Makefile, NAnt, Grunt. Hands-on labs and real-world scenarios.
Covers: Nexus, Artifactory, NuGet, Chocolatey, APT, YUM, RPM, Apache Archiva. Hands-on labs and real-world scenarios.
Covers: Jira, Zendesk. Hands-on labs and real-world scenarios.
Covers: Python, Bash, PowerShell, Groovy, Ruby, Perl. Hands-on labs and real-world scenarios.

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