I\'m trying to decide whether to start my new project on ASP.NET 5 or to stick with the current framework. Unfortunately, I can\'t seem to find a schedule for this project. Gith
ASP.NET 5 was RELEASE CANDIDATE as 11/18/2015. Which means from that point forward using those bits you can use it in production and receive support.
Updated Answer:
ASP.NET Core 1.0 was released on June 27 2016.
Getting started with .NET Core
If you use Visual Studio 2015 (Visual Studio Community is free!) you should get VS2015 Update 3 first then install the .NET Core Tools for Visual Studio.
If you don't want to use VS, consider using Visual Studio Code for free and install the C# extension from the marketplace along with the .NET Core SDK for Windows. Of course, if you're on Mac/Linux/Whatever, go over to http://dot.net.
If you want all the advanced and specific downloads for .NET or .NET Core, click here
Previous Answer: (Release Candidates)
Scott Hunter has blogged specific time-frames: for the release of ASP.NET Core
The Core Schedule
.NET Core and ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC2 runtime and libraries will be available in mid-May.
Tooling will be Preview 1 and bundled with this release.
.NET Core and ASP.NET Core 1.0 RTM (release) runtime and libraries will be available by the end of June.
Tooling will be Preview 2 and bundled with this release.
We will continue to make changes and stabilize the tooling until it RTMs with Visual Studio “15”.
Previous Answer:
ASP.NET Core 1.0 (previously called ASP.NET 5) roadmap is on github but the dates in this roadmap have been missed over the past couple of months by a margin so one can't really trust it. Considering this, it makes sense they have removed fixed dates from the roadmap.
According to the current roadmap RC2 release is TBD. Release 1.0 says 2016.
So the question should really be? When is TBD? When is later in 2016?
Luckily the number of open issues per release can be viewed on github.
Take note: ASP.NET Core release versions needs to integrate with other related /dependent teams releases e.g. Entity Framework team. Each release will only be released once those teams have the equivalent release version ready.
I post links to each of these technologies milestones in github. This should give the most accurate indication of a release date.
aspnet/Mvc (RC2 is 99% as on 19 April) aspnet/EntityFramework (RC2 is 98% as on 19 April) dotnet/cli (RC2 is 88 % as on 19 April) dotnet/coreclr (RC2 is 99 % as on 19 April) dotnet/corefx (RC2 is 100% as on 19 April)
Based off the above progress, RC2 due date is listed as 29 April 2016 when they will have a build ready for testing
It will probably be another X weeks of testing but at least it's an indication when it will be ready.
Progress is updated daily.
Release 1.0 RTM progress can also be viewed on these links.
RTM milestone date seems to be 30 June although not all of the links have milestone dates. Based on how the RC2 dates have slipped, this date will probably change as well as they progress.
The ASP.NET Community Standup videos should also give a good indication on progress of releases where one can get updates from the horse's mouth, usually on a weekly basis.
According to Roadmap on GitHub:
Below is the schedule and roadmap for ASP.NET Core 1.0. Please note that these dates and feature plans are all subject to change. As with any project of this size it is difficult to predict exactly when things will land. Even so, we think it's important to be as open and transparent as possible about our plans so that our users can have the right expectations and create their plans accordingly.
Milestone Release Date
Beta6 27 Jul 2015
Beta7 24 Aug 2015
Beta8 21 Sep 2015
RC1 Nov 2015
RC2 (Tools Preview 1) mid-May 2016
1.0.0 late-June 2016
The November release candidate (RC1) will be a supported and production ready cross-platform release. Depending on feedback from RC1 we will ship additional release candidates as necessary.
In Beta6 we are working on supporting localization in the new request pipeline. We are also working to enable patching and servicing of the runtime including adding support for strong-naming assemblies. In Beta6 you will be able to target .NET 4.6 using the .NET Execution Environment (DNX). We will do work on response buffering and caching (via HTTP.SYS on Windows) and add distributed caching support via SQL Server.
Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity
The primary focus for Beta7 will be to enable cross-platform development on .NET Core. This includes shipping the .NET Core based .NET Execution Environments for Mac and Linux, enabling the basic developer workflows and also setting up the acquisition story.
Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity
Beta8 is the last major feature milestone planned before moving into a stabilization phase for RC1. We will work on enabling complete end-to-end experiences in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. We expect cross-platform .NET Core to be feature complete at this point.
Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity
The focus for RC1 will be on polishing existing features, responding to customer feedback and improving performance and reliability. The goal is for RC1 to be a stable and production ready release.
For RC2 we will move ASP.NET Core 1.0 to be based on the new cross-platform .NET Core command line toolchain.
The following features unfortunately won't make it into the initial RTM release. We are tentatively planning on shipping them in the initial feature release after RTM, during Q3* of 2016:
* References to yearly quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) are calendar-based
Update 3: The ASP.NET Core 1.0 (Previously called ASP.NET 5) roadmap is on github: https://github.com/aspnet/Home/wiki/Roadmap
Original
Visual Studio 2015 will released on 20 July 2015.
However according to Somasegar's blog on 29 Jun 2015: "ASP.NET 5 and EF 7 will be released separately at a later date."
ASP.NET Core 1.0, Entity Framework 1.0, and .NET Core 1.0 were all released on June 27, 2016.
For more information see Scott Hanselman's blog about the change.
In the ASP.NET Community Standup live meeting Damian Edwards discussed some updates to the plans for ASP.NET 5's release. You can read the main points and watch the recording on a recent team blog post.
This tentative plan was described:
So, as with all schedules/plans, please take this as a plan, not specific dates.
We (Microsoft) generally don't give specific dates. However, I can say that ASP.NET 5 ("vNext") is being released as part of Visual Studio 2015, and so that means it's being released in 2015 (big surprise!). It is reasonably safe to assume a release in the early half of 2015.
As you correctly noted, the GitHub repos for ASP.NET 5 now specify the RC milestone, which indicates that our main focus right now is on stability, and that the feature set for the RTM release is largely there. There are still features and designs being finalized, and anyone can of course see those going on in the individual repos.
I don't see any confirmed release dates but if these new ASP.NET 5 features or being on the latest framework is important you can always download the Visual Studio 2015 preview and start using some of the new features today.