Understanding KRE,KVM,KLR and KPM in ASP.NET 5(vNext)

ASP.NET 5(vNext) is a new upcoming version of ASP.NET that Microsoft has redesigned from the scratch. Recently Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2015 Preview and with that they have released ASP.NET VNext.  In ASP.NET 5 (vNext) it comes with new runtime environment called KRE(K Runtime Environment) . With this version you can also run your application through command prompt using various commands. In this blog post we are going to learn about all terms related K Runtime Environment.

KVM(K Version Manager):

K version manager is one of the first thing you need to run command . KVM is responsible for installing and updating different version of KRE. It’s a PowerShell script used to get and manage multiple version of KRE being it on same time on same machine. So one application can now have one version of KRE and another application can have another version of KRE on same time. You can find more information at https://github.com/aspnet/Home/wiki/version-manager

KRE(K Runtime Environment):

K Runtime Environment is responsible for bootstrapping and running of ASP.NET vNext Application. It is minimum code (Runtime Environment) you required to run your ASP.NET vNext application. This includes lots of things like Compiler Systems,SDK Tools, Native CLR Hosts. You can get current version of KRE(K Runtime Environment) via KVM List command. You can find more information about KRE at -https://github.com/aspnet/Home/wiki/KRuntime-structure

KLR(K Language Runtime):

K Lanauge Runtime is an exe shipped with Project K Package. KLR.exe would be used for scenarios such as building and running from the command line when self-hosting in development. You can find more information about KLR and it’s usage on - https://github.com/aspnet/Home/wiki/KRuntime-structure KLR usage part.

KPM(K package manager):

K package manager is responsible for all operations involved in your ASP.NET vNext application. It restore packages, pack your application for deployment etc. i.e. It is involved in restoring dependencies defined in your project.json for ASP.NET vNext applications. You can find more about KPM at - https://github.com/aspnet/Home/wiki/Package-Manager

That’s it. Hope you like it. Stay tuned for more. In future blog post I will write more about different K commands and lot more about ASP.NET vNext.